The Fallen
by Insane Troll Logic
Summary: There's dead people being resurrected, Oz is getting visions, oh, and the world's ending. Crossover with BtVS. COMPLETE.
1. It starts with a vision

**Title- **The Fallen

**Author- **Insane Troll Logic (AKA Paige or Spasticvisions)

**Rating- **pg-13 (violence)

**Summary- **There's dead people being resurrected, Oz is getting visions, oh, and the world's ending.

**Feedback-** A definate good.

**Spoilers- **General for all of BtVS, and Angel up to 5.8 (Destiny), specific for- (BtVS)Welcome to the Hellmouth, the Harvest, Passions, the Gift, Seeing Red, and Chosen and (Ats) Hero, War Zone, Birthday, Home, and general early season 5 stuff

**Disclaimer-** If it was mine, this show would still be on.

**Autor's note-** Ok, this is a major cross over with Buffy, many of the main characters are from Buffy, and many of them are also from Angel. It's in this section because everything will eventually be going down in LA. This story also hinges majorly on several very minor characters, if you don't recognize someone, ask and I'll try to explain.

And now, enough with my blabbering and onto the story (that is if I haven't scared you away yet. (come back!))

* * *

_**One- It starts with a vision**_

He strummed his guitar, humming tunelessly to a song he'd half forgotten. The darkened streets of New York offered little comfort and he was acutely aware that there was a full moon tonight. He was on a street corner, and for all he knew, he looked like one of those hobos that would play for spare change. Unconsciously, he rolled up his oversized shirt sleeves and made an honest effort to play an e-flat diminish minor cord. He cringed at the sound that came out.

"Hey, weren't you part of the band?"

He glanced over his shoulder and looked at her. She was a couple inches taller than him, blonde hair, blue eyes, and blue jean jacket. He returned his attention to his guitar. "Nah. Their lead guitarist has mono. I was just filling in."

She didn't leave. On the contrary, she sat down next to him. He wondered vaguely if she was trying to pick him up. "Sorry. I just get a little bit edgy after dark."

"Haven't seen any vampires out tonight," he said, fingering d-chord. "It's pretty much only werewolves."

"I'll steer clear of central park then."

He couldn't help but smile and turn to her.

"I'm Kate." She offered him a hand, which he took.

"Oz."

She looked pained for a moment. "I really need some company tonight. Do you want to get coffee or something?"

"I'm sorry," Oz said softly, "you're really not my type."

"Trust me," Kate said with a laugh, "You're not my type either. Never was very big at hitting on werewolves."

Oz blinked. "Sure. Coffee's good."

* * *

"So you're a cop?" 

"Something like that." She brushed a strand of hair back from her face. "There's some sort of demon after you."

"Wow," Oz muttered dumbly. "Just like I'm back in Sunnydale."

"That's the town that caved in."

"Yeah. It was on top of a hellmouth." Oz took a sip of his coffee. "We had to blow up to school once. The town was just the next step."

"Any idea why someone would want to kill you?" Kate wrinkled her nose. "And it's a full moon, why aren't you…"

"Long story. Has to do with a…" he was cut short by a blinding pain, and he convulsed and slammed down on the table.

_

* * *

__FLASH_

_Somewhere by the docks in Las Angelus, where a ship called the Quintessa once rested, a man fell out of nowhere. He hit the water with a splash and sank. A minute later, his frail form appeared, and he gasped for breath…_

_FLASH_

_Across town in a Wolfram and Hart hospital, a nurse gasped as a young woman disappeared from her hospital bed… _

_FLASH_

_In the an abandoned warehouse that was doubling as a shelter for a bunch of kid that were sharpening stakes, a curly hair girl suddenly appear. One of the older kids looked up. "Alonna?"_

_FLASH_

_In the crater that used to be Sunnydale, a dark haired youth sat, dazed in the rubble. "What happened to the Bronze?"_

_FLASH_

_Where the oldest of the Sunnydale graveyards used to be, a raven haired woman straightened up, rubbing her neck in confusion._

_FLASH_

_A mousy haired witch sighed as she checked her own pulse. "Willow, what have you done?"_

_FLASH_

_A block away, where Sunnydale high school used to stand, a very pissed of ex-vengeance-demon brushed the dust off of herself and examined the scar going through her shoulder. "I guess the world did go to hell."_

_FLASH_

_Some things entirely different and far less benign stirred as well. The master's fractured bones, which had been unearthed in the quake, slowly began to fuse together._

_FLASH_

_A man called Ben awoke in confusion._

_FLASH_

_Back in Las Angelus, a slim figure pulled out her cell phone. "This is Eve. It's started."_

* * *

Oz jerked upright, completely taking Kate, who had a concerned hand on his shoulder, by surprise. He was slightly dazed, vague images still dancing across his eyelids. 

"Oz! Are you alright! OZ!" Kate sounded frantic, "I'm calling an ambulance."

The late night crowd at the starbucks, was watching the exchange curiously. Oz tried his best to glare at them, but he wasn't an intimidating person by nature. "I have epilepsy," he muttered to the crowd, the only excuse that had popped into his head.

"I'm still calling the hospital," Kate told him sternly.

Oz shook his head and grabbed for his guitar case. "I've got to go." His head was pounding, and everything somehow seemed magnified. "I…" A vein pulsed above his left eye. "Thanks for the coffee Kate."

He hurried out of the coffee shop.

Kate caught up with him three blocks later. "You're going to tell me what this is about."

"Kate I have no idea what this is about."

"You're not epileptic."

His grip on his guitar tightened, almost like he was using it as a lifeline. "I saw something." He seemed to realize how insane that sounded and closed his eyes. "I need to get to LA."

"Well I've been saying you should get out of New York all night," Kate inserted dryly. "I don't think you want to run into what's stalking you alone."

"I can take care of myself. I just… I got to do it LA now."

"What did you see Oz. I've know people who've supposedly gotten visions, before."

"Something bad's coming," Oz muttered. "There's people who are dead, and people who should be… and there's something evil. I've got to get to LA, tell Angel about it. Maybe round up the slayerettes…"

_Angel. _The one familiar name was all she needed. She took a deep breath. "I'm coming with you."

* * *

I like feedback :) 


	2. Not Quite Dead

Author's note- Just wanted to take a chance to thank my beta, Erin, for putting up with my first drafts and constantly answering questions like 'Would Giles ever say that?' or 'Does this make any sence at all?'. Another huge thanks to people who reviewed. You guys made my day.

_Story info and disclaimer on chapter one._

* * *

_**Two- Not quite dead**_

Oz shoved his minimal possessions into a duffle bag as Kate watched him curiously. "You travel light."

He made no comment, just put a couple of stakes and a vial of holy water into the side pouch of the bag.

"How long do you think it'll take us to get to LA?"

"Coupl'a days," Oz muttered, "if we just keep driving."

"You don't want to stop somewhere to spend the night."

He remembered the stabbing pains that had come with the images. "No time." He stole one last look at the tiny apartment he'd been staying at for the last month, the apartment that was now completely empty. It had taken him all of ten minutes to pack. Somehow he'd known that he wouldn't be there for very long. "We'll pick up your stuff on the way out of town."

"Oz! It's two in the morning."

"You don't have to come."

"Give it a rest."

"You just met me."

"I don't as a rule trust werewolves either. But you know everything happens for a reason." Kate couldn't help but recall her last conversation with Angel. "And nothing you can say will change my mind."

Oz studied her intently before gracing her with a smile. "Let's go then."

* * *

The sun was burning his pale skin, but he'd never felt so cold. Looking around at the ruins of his old town, he saw absolutely nothing he recognized. Vague bits of memory kept flashing through his jumbled mind. Xander, Willow, a new girl… teeth… vampires… 

"Take it easy and go through the facts," he mumbled aloud. "Your name is Jesse McNally, your best friend is Xander Harris." He was wondering aimlessly though the wreckage. "It looks like someone nuked the town and you're all alone." He stopped and shook himself. "It's 1997."

"No it's not,"a voice answered. "it's at least '98. Where's Giles when you need him?"

He wheeled around, feeling inexplicably paranoid and glared at the women, who was only about fifteen years older than him. She had the demeanor of a teacher. "Who are you?"

"Jenny Calendar." She studied him with a unnerving probing gaze.

"Are we the only ones left?" Jesse asked distantly. "It feels like the end of the world."

"I was pretty sure I was dead," Ms. Calendar recalled. "I remember my neck snapping."

Jesse finally latched onto a stray thread of memory, shivering slightly. "I remember tasting blood."

"Well, we're not vampires," Ms. Calendar said, only half listening, "it's too sunny."

Jesse remembered vampires as well. "They said I was bait."

"You're not making me feel safer."

"Let's get out of here," Jesse said quickly. "I never liked this town anyway. It gave me the wiggins."

"I second that."

The unlikely pair exchanged an uncertain glance before beginning to pick their way to the nearest edge of the crater.

* * *

He coughed explosively, spitting out a mixture of blood and rank seawater. Struggling to stay conscious, he looked around, surprised that there was nobody there. Why hadn't Angel and Cordy waited for him? Where was the ship? And the Scourge? He coughed again and then began swimming towards the shore, his clothes dragging in the water and slowing his movement. When he reached it, he collected himself and pulled himself up to a standing position, wobbling slightly on his feet. 

Resolutely, Alan Francis Doyle began walking in the direction of Angel Investigations.

* * *

"What do you mean Cordelia's gone," Angel choked into to the phone. "Where?" 

"Mrs. Chase disappeared from her hospital bed about forty minutes ago, Mr. Angel," the nurse's voice came back. "We don't know where she is."

He didn't know if it was something about her tone, the place just starting to get to him or the fact that everybody seemed to insist on calling him 'Mr. Angel', but he snapped. "You have to have _some_ idea! Was there a note? Was she kidnapped? Did she get up and walk out of there on her own?"

"Mr. Angel…"

"People don't just disappear!" He exploded to the hapless woman, but he knew he was lying all the same. In his mind he saw Darla exploding into a cloud of dust, saw himself sucked backwards into a portal, saw Doyle disappearing in a flash of bright white light. And now Cordy…

But he also had to remind himself that Fred herself had disappeared, and they'd found her.

He hung up the phone, only vaguely aware that the nurse had still been blabbering. He touched the intercom and said, "Harmony. I need you to get everyone up here. Now. It's important."

"You got it boss."

Ten minutes later they were all there. And he looked at them feeling something akin to loss. There was Gunn who Angel didn't really know anymore, Fred who still saw him as some sort of a hero, a knight in shining armor, Wesley who had never trusted him, Spike who he hated, and Lorne who had the bad habit of being a little too perceptive.

He remembered when he'd had friends and not just co-workers.

Gunn cleared his throat, "Can we do this already. I've got a ten O'clock mee…"

"Cordy's gone," Angel said abruptly and everyone went silent. "She disappeared from her hospital room about an hour ago." They were all watching him, waiting for an order. "We're going to find her. Use all your resources, break all the rules, I don't care. We're going to find her."

He looked at the office he hated and the people he couldn't quite consider his friends and felt a pang of loneliness. "We have to find her."

* * *

For Cordelia, everything rewound. First she was ascending… and then she was falling back. Time had started up again and she was suddenly standing on the shoulder of the highway, wearing clothes completely different from what she had on twenty seconds ago. Even her hair was a different style, different color. 

And she was late for her meeting with Angel, but all of a sudden, that seemed way down on her list of priorities. She walked down to the beach and started off towards the lights of the city.

* * *

Anya stumbled over some fallen power wires as she unconsciously made her way though the ruins of the town towards where Buffy's house used to be. That's where the others would be if someone besides her had made it. That's where Xander would be. He'd wait for her. Andrew would probably be there too. 

The entire right side of her was throbbing. She didn't quite know why. A scar she didn't remember getting marred her shoulder. "Stupid super-vamps," she muttered.

She rounded the street corner, habit forcing her to walk where the sidewalk had used to be. She spotted a figure crouching down on the lawn. Briefly sighed thinking it was her and one of the irritating potential fodder who had survived when in all honesty, it should have been Buffy and Willow and Giles and Xander who'd gotten out.

But then the figure came into focus.

"Tara!"

She looked up. "Where's Willow?"

"Tara. You're looking very alive."

Eyes flashed in the waning sun. "I'm not supposed to be here," she said inaudibly.

"You should be happy not to be dead," Anya said shakily, "because everyone else might be."

Anya could almost see the magic rising in Tara, as she looked around with something akin to grief. She remembered a similar aura around Willow when she had the black eyes. It scared her. "You're not allowed to go evil."

Tara looked up, eyes glistening with tears and all at once, the power collapsed and she fell to her knees. "She _promised_ that was it! She said she was done with it. Things were going to be so _good_."

Anya blinked and called up the image of Xander's clumsy proposal in the basement of the magic shop and smiled fondly.

"I'm not supposed to be here."

"You know I've been around for a long time. And," Anya patted Tara on the shoulder, "generally speaking, you almost always are where you're supposed to be."

* * *

"You're not supposed to be here," Rondell said, standing up in a fury. "You're dead." 

Alonna frowned in confusion. "What are you talking about?" She was vaguely aware of the others forming a circle around her, sensing hostility.

"Girl, you're _dead_. Gunn had to _stake you_." He fumbled in his pocket and came up with a cross. He held it out in front of him, the cross shook wildly.

"Rondell? Is that you? When'd you get that scar?"

"Stop."

"Where's Gunn?"

"He's not here!" Rondell shouted. "And you know what, I don't think you are either."

"I just want to see my brother," Alonna said, suddenly close to tears. She reached up and grabbed the cross. "I swear it's really me here."

Rondell's resolve started to crumble, but he kept his gaze steady. "Get out."

* * *

Willow felt something shift, the world, in a instant had changed. She jerked upright in her bed and looked around, for a second she wasn't quite sure where she was. Slowly it came back to her. She was in Brazil. She had come here with Kennedy. They'd split about a month ago… 

The phone by her table rang and she reached over to pick it up, brushing a strand of hair from her eyes. "Hello?"

"Willow?"

"Kennedy? Why are you calling me?"

"It's gone."

"What's gone."

"All the slayer power." Even on the phone, Willow could hear tears in her voice. "I just woke up and nothing was there. I couldn't even open a jar of jelly this morning."

Willow remembered the power shift. "Things were getting out of balance."

"Did they have to out of balance me?"

Willow closed her eyes, feeling the beginnings of a headache. "Kennedy, call Giles about it." She was aware of a new presence. "I've got to go."

She hung up despite Kennedy's protest and closed her eyes, looking for the source of the change.

She felt Tara instead.

* * *

"Hello?" 

"Giles? It's Oz."

"_Oz_? Dear lord. We've wondered where you've been. I've heard that you've been marked as a threat by a demon of considerable power…"

"I know. Someone's already tipped me off."

"Really? Where are you. You're welcome to come here if you need a safe place to stay."

"You're in England."

"Yes. I know. But…"

"Look Giles, I left New York about two days ago. I'm heading to LA." Oz's normally measured tones had a slightly frantic edge and Giles could barely make out a female voice in the background. "Something's starting. It would be good to have back up."

"Oz?"

"Oh and you'll want to tip off Tara about this. She might be in trouble."

"Tara's dead."

Silence from Oz's end of the phone and then, "Is Willow OK?"

"It happened more than a year ago. She's better."

"Look I'm almost out of time. Got a long way to drive," He paused. "Could you try and get to LA. Maybe round up the scoobies? Check the books?"

"Of course." Giles glanced around his flat. "Is it really going to be bad."

"You have no idea." Oz paused and didn't say anything for a long time. Giles could hear his slightly erratic breathing. "I've got to go. I'll keep in touch."

* * *

Darkness fell on the ruins of Sunnydale and the Master emerged from his small shelter, smiling through distorted features. "This promises to be interesting." _

* * *

_

_Well, that's the end of the chapter. Let me know what you think!_


	3. Sacrifice

Glad you guys haven't given up on this ).

_Story info and disclaimer on chapter 1.

* * *

_

_**Three- Sacrifice**_

They finally climbed their way out of the crater when the night had begun to permanently settle in.

"Vampires?" Jesse asked with a smile although the notion was much more amusing in the daylight.

"Real," Ms. Calendar replied.

"Magic."

"Definitely exists."

"Dragons."

"Rare."

"Uh. Leprechauns."

"Extinct."

"You're kidding."

"Never."

They both flinched as headlights shone in their eyes. The car stopped and a man got out. "The hell are you doing out here?"

"We're lost," Jesse supplied. "Been walking all day."

"There's nothing but a whole lot of desert here," the man said.

"There's Sunnydale," Jesse told him lifting his head in a sort of exhausted defiance.

"Yeah. The big old crater. Town collapsed around six months ago. For a while it was nearly as big a mystery as area 51. Space geeks from all around coming just to _stare _at the boring old hole in the ground. There was rumors 'bout a government cover-up and people saying that the town had fled before it even happened. There were supposedly some people unaccounted for."

Out of the corner of her eyes, Ms. Calendar saw Jesse mouthing 'six months?'

"Don't suppose you two need a ride. I was actually heading towards LA."

"Sound great."

"You and your son are welcome to ride in the back, I haven't got much room in the front." He stuck out a hand. "My name's Ralph Jenkins by the way."

"I'm Jenny, and this here's Jesse. Thanks for the ride. The last thing we want is to be out here another day."

* * *

Doyle nervously bounced on his toes in front of his old apartment, screwing up the courage it would take to go inside. The building of Angel Investigations was nothing more than a burnt out shell and Cordelia's apartment had been empty. 

His own apartment was the last hope. He'd left his key at work which in turn had blown up. He couldn't help but think that that probably wasn't the best omen.

Hands shaking on their own accord, he raised a fist to the door, and feeling rather absurd, he knocked twice.

A second later a tall skinny guy who looked to be only a little older than Doyle was looking at him. "Yeah."

"You live here?"

"Yeah. Who's asking?"

Doyle suddenly realized how he must look, disheveled, poorly dressed, and still kind of wet. "I knew someone who lived here."

The guy rubbed his nose. "I've been living here for about four years. The previous tenant managed to wind up dead. Got a real great price on the place."

"He's dead," Doyle echoed as a sort of numbness washed over him.

"Yeah. A girl and a guy came by, cleaned out his stuff years ago. He didn't have too much," he paused. "You OK?"

"I've been better." Doyle managed a weak half smile. "Thanks man. You cleared a lot of things up."

The guy nodded and gave him a smile that was obviously intended to be friendly, but in reality was kind of creepy and shut the door.

Doyle stood still for a moment staring at his old apartment door before turning slowly and starting his way back to the docks.

* * *

"Giles," Buffy groaned into the phone. "Why are you calling. It's like four in the morning." 

"I do apologize for disrupting your rest," Giles floundered and Buffy was just awake enough to hear the old school librarian coming out in his speech.

She smiled sleepily. "It's good to hear from you Giles."

"We have trouble."

"And now we're back to the not so good." She sighed, sitting up and pulling back the covers. "What's the what? Do I have to slip back into apocalypse mode?"

"I'm going to ignore just how eager you sound."

She grinned broadly. "Well, I did always hang around a lot of it."

"Yesterday, I received word from Oz."

"_Oz_. God I haven't heard about him in like forever. How's he doing?"

"He sounded to be a tad bit strung out." She could almost hear him polishing his glasses. "He was also rather cryptic in his message. He said that something had started, or at least it was going to start in the near future. I didn't exactally understand all it, but the just of it would be there is an apocolypse that is going to come to pass and it would be good to have back up."

"That's it. No 'hey how's it going.'" Buffy paused. "No wait, never mind, that's just Oz."

"I wouldn't have put to much stock into what he was saying if I hadn't also gotten a call from Willow," Giles continued, "Kennedy had informed her that she seems to be without slayer strength. Willow spoke about a shift in the balance of the world and considering the magnitude of the spell she preformed, that's to be expe…"

"Hold on Giles, " Buffy interrupted frantically, "I've definitely still got my strength. What's going on?"

"I've checked with the other watchers," Giles said dejectedly. "They've all confirmed it. All the cases are similar. Taken alone, it would be conceivable that it was simply a malignant spell, but taken together…"

"It looks like it's back to being the chosen one."

"I'm afraid that seems to be the case."

Buffy sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Okay, slipping into apocalypse mode here. Did Oz say where any of this is going down? I'm so not looking to head back to Sunnydale so please say they didn't reactivate the hellmouth."

"Los Angeles actually."

"Even better," sarcasm seeped unbidden into her voice.

"Buffy…" Giles ventured hesitantly, "I know you realize that you will have to be working with Angel and his team. If you feel uncomfortable, I'm sure we can manage without…"

"Giles," Buffy interjected, "I'm going. Besides, it'll be good to see the gang" She paused, "The gang is going to be there right?"

"Of course. Willow should arrive about an hour before my plane and Xander should arrive about the same time as me. Barring unforeseen circumstances, your plane should be arrive then as well. There are three tickets waiting for you at the terminal. One for yourself, one for Dawn and on for Andrew."

"You're the best."

"Do be careful Buffy."

She was already throwing clothes into a suitcase, slightly disgusted at just how eager she was to jump back into the action. "You taking the weaponry? Because you know they get a little tense about you bringing crossbows onto a plane."

"It's taken care of."

"I don't want to know how."

"I'll see you there Buffy. Have a nice trip."

She hung up, and went over to her drawer looking for her favorite top. "Hey Dawnie!" she called and grinned at her sister's groggy moan. "Pack up! We're heading to LA."

* * *

Jesse lurched uncomfortably as the speeding truck hit a pot hole in the road at sixty-five miles per hour. He tugged at his seatbelt vaguely remembering all of the horror movies they'd shown them in driver's ed. To his right, Ms. Calendar looked equally uncomfortable. Neither had spoken since they'd gotten into Ralph's truck. The truck hit another pothole and Jesse could feel the contents of his stomach churning. He had a sinking sensation settling into his stomach as for the first time he noticed his surroundings. 

They were in the back seat of a two door pick-up truck, the windows were appallingly grimy and Jesse could only barely make out the moon. In the back, there were a few pieces of lumber. Everything looked innocent enough, but Jesse suddenly felt trapped.

"Where were you going?" he asked spontaneously.

"'scuse me?"

"You were coming from the direction of LA when you picked us up," he pressed, "and when you offered us a lift, you turned back to LA. _Why?_

"Was just going for a ride," Ralph replied gamely.

Jesse could make out the bright lights of the city off in the distance, even through the grimy windshield. "There's nothing out here. You said it yourself."

Ralph's tone had lost its humor, "You two were out there," he spat tersely. "You should feel lucky I was in the neighborhood."

"We do," Ms. Calendar cut in sharply, shooting Jesse a warning glance. "We're very much in your debt."

The truck had slowed to a stop outside a gas station that had seen better decades.

"What are you doing?" Ms. Calendar pointed at the lights in the distance. "The city's that way!"

"And there's a bus stop about two miles down," Ralph spat, turning off the car and starting to get out. "You all can walk."

Jesse caught a view of empty scenery where a figure should have been, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion for a second before he dismissed it as a poor angle. Ms. Calendar wasn't making any move to leave. He starting pushing at the side window.

Ralph had made his way over to the passenger's side of the doorway, flipped down the seat and viciously grabbed Ms. Calendar, yanking her out by the hair, she screamed shrilly.

Trying not to concentrate on that, Jesse flipped the driver's seat forward, the horn blaring harshly into the silent night.

"Get off me, you bastard." He heard the unmistakable sound of a fist connecting with flesh. He had been beaten up enough as a kid to know that sound. He nearly fell out of the car as he opened the driver's seat and stumbled out the door.

Not used to running into a fight, he looked around frantically for a way to get an edge, his eyes landed on the boards in the back of the truck. Not knowing what else to do, he grabbed a two by four, holding it awkwardly in both hands and beginning to creep around the truck as fast as he dared. His stomach was tying itself in knots. He could hear growling and struggling.

He emerged from behind the truck and swung the board at the back of Ralph's head. He crumbled, dropping Ms. Calendar. Jesse, moved towards her, offering a hand to help her up. She looked at him, battered, bruised and bloody and her lips parted in a soundless warning.

The blow hit Jesse square between the shoulders and his legs fell out from under him, chest hitting the ground and knocking all of the air from his lungs. Ms. Calendar managed to choke a horse warning of, "_move._"

Jesse had the presence of mind to roll out of the way as Ralph's fist crashed into the pavement directly to his right. He caught a glint of yellow eyes and his brain for just a second flashed back to the empty reflection of the mirror and suddenly made the connection.

He attempted to get to his feet, but a vicious kick sent him back down and then he was covered in a thin coat of dust. He gave a sputtering cough and looked up to see Ms. Calendar standing over him with the enormous two by four he'd picked up from the back of the truck. "That was like straight out of a horror movie."

Ms. Calendar was bracing herself on the truck. "You're appallingly resilient."

"I think that's the shock." He confessed, standing up and squeezing his eyes shut until he felt the world stop spinning. "So what now? Do we stay here?"

Ms. Calendar examined the cars, and noted that the keys were still in the engine. "I say we make it to LA before sunrise."

* * *

Cordelia wasn't quite sure where she was walking, only that she'd know when she got there. She must have walked for miles today and she thanked whatever powers were up there for putting her in tennis shoes and not the trendy heels she normally wore. 

The ocean was unnaturally rough tonight, as if all the world was in as much upheaval as she was. She had been staring at it absently, half wondering why nothing had attacked her yet.

Up ahead of her she saw a figure sitting and looking at something far away, she closed the distance and sat down next to him without really looking at him. "So, you a brooder by nature?"

He turned to look at her. "Cordelia?" his voice was incredibly familiar, an Irish accent thickening in surprise.

She turned to study him. "Oh God. _Doyle!_" She hugged him tightly, surprised that she hadn't broken any bones. "You're dead. Oh God Doyle. I missed you so much."

"I thought you were dead too, Cordy," he whispered thickly into her ear, "I went to the offices and it was gone. And there was no one living in your place. Dennis told me he didn't know where you were. I couldn't find Angel either. There was someone in my old apartment."

Cordelia pulled away, tears brimming in her eyes. "Doyle you died more than two years ago."

"According to the nice man in my apartment, it's been closer to four years."

Cordelia frowned deeply. "Something weird is going on. Like Sunnydale weird."

"Me being alive for instance," Doyle said miserably. "Things just don't go well when dead people start walking around." He frowned. "Unless said dead person is Angel."

"Who we should go find," Cordelia added, standing up. "He's probably back at the office by now."

"Find Angel," Doyle echoed, voice distant. "Sure. Sounds like a plan. Where's the new offices? You know the ones that aren't a great gaping hole in the ground?"

"Follow me."

* * *

Wesley stood uneasily in front of his boss. "Angel." 

Angel barely looked up from his desk where he was pouring over a large book. "Did you find anything?"

Wesley sighed and took out the papers. "Nothing definitive. But."

Angel locked eyes with him. "So keep looking!"

Wesley coughed sharply, clearing his throat, feeling the almost unstoppable urge to begin polishing his glasses. "I think you better look at this Angel."

"What is it?" Angel asked, taking the papers and scanning through them.

"Medical readouts." Wesley sighed. "_Cordelia's _medical readouts."

"Yeah. And…"

"And according to these, Cordelia flat lined about ten seconds before she disappeared." Wesley sat down across from Angel and watched as the vampire absorbed the blow.

"No." He muttered distantly.

"You've got to face the facts sometime Angel," Wesley said sternly. "Before she flat-lined, all of our readouts showed that she should have been up and about since she got here. But she wasn't. And do you want to know why?" Angel was shaking his head. "Because her _soul_ her _life force_ has been gone since before she came back last year. Angel. Cordelia's been dead for two years." Wesley got up to leave. "I'm sorry to be the one break it to you, but we've got more important things going on here."

* * *

"Wife says he was absolutely fine last night." The nurse indicated a man strapped to the bed in the psychiatric ward. "No history of mental illness, not even in his near family." 

"And today he's a raving lunatic." The doctor filled in, looking at the patient's chart. "I guess I'll talk to him. Try and identify the trigger." He pushed open the door.

Immediately nearly inarticulate mutterings invaded the still air. "Fingers everywhere, in my head. It's all so dark."

"Mr. Reylord, I'd like to talk to you."

"Just the beginning. Starts and won't stop. Won't ever stop." There was a glint of something in his hands.

"Mr. Reylord, what is in your hand?"

Reylord grinned broadly and flashed a knife. "Sacrifices make happen. This here's the start of the end." And with a single sudden violent motion, the knife had slashed through the doctor's throat. "She says there must be sacrifice." He smiled almost benignly as a horrified nurse opened the door, staring at him in open mouthed shock.

"What…"

"I'm delivering a message." He announced, perfectly lucid, "The end is coming. The blood will rain from the heavens." Reylord raised the glimmering knife. "The heroes will fall and the world will be what it was." A manical smile spanned his gaunt features. "Sacrifice starts it."

The blade fell as the nurse screamed and a second later Lloyd Reylord was lying in a pool of his own blood.

* * *

_I'll have the next chapter out next weekend. Merry Easter to those of you who celebrate it. And as always, feedback is of the good._


	4. Awakenings

_Story info and disclaimer on chapter one._

* * *

_**Chapter 4- Awakenings**_

Ben woke.

Odd patterns of light danced above him, a disconcerting combination of stars and magic. Voices seemed to echo despite the seemingly endless waste of what at one time was Sunnydale. _"Sacrifice starts it."_

Sacrifice, Ben was sure, would also end it.

"_When the blood stops flowing…"_

He was supposed to be dead.

"_You see, she's a hero. She's not like us"_

He should be dead. He didn't know how much longer he could stand living. The death at the foot of the tower had been a fitting end to a sorry life. A miserable half existence.

His chest heaved and his lungs filled with more blood than air. He tried to focus his eyes, but his vision doubled and spun.

He thought he could make out a female face with black eyes that seemed to laugh.

And Ben suddenly realized that it wouldn't just be Glory using him.

* * *

Anya jerked upright. "Tara?" She pushed herself up quickly, scanning the area. "Tara are you still here?" 

She spotted her about ten yards away, busy doing some sort of a spell. Anya scrunched up her nose. Spells in her experiences ended badly. The last time she was ever involved with a spell, she brought back a slayer who was still more dead then alive and created a dimension hopping beast. And the time before that she'd conjured up a troll. And before that there had been the vampire Willow debacle. "What are you doing Tara?"

She spun round one her heels, a small beam of light suddenly hovering in front of her. "I'm sending out for Willow."

Anya swatted at the little beam of light and only barely caught a hint of something disappearing behind Tara. "The thing looks like a bug. Why don't you just teleport us there?"

"Do you re-re-remember," Tara stuttered, "when Willow t-teleported Glory. She had nose bleeds for w-weeks."

"So? I think this would be a little easier than teleporting a god." Anya shot back, placing a hand on her hip.

"I-I've never tried it. And Willow is much better then me at things like this."

"Then let's start walking." Anya squinted into the sun and realized that they must have slept through the night. The thought made her laugh out loud. Because if anyone ever had fallen asleep _outside_ in Sunnydale, they would be dead. The giggles began to border hysterics and Anya could feel Tara's eyes on her, but somehow she just didn't care. Because Anya had survived a night in Sunnydale. And if she could do that she'd be okay.

* * *

"We've got a problem," Wesley told the assembled group. 

"You mean besides Peaches keeping up his dark cloud, the cheerleader dying and me being just a tad bit incorporeal." Spike made a show of rolling his eyes, "because unless it's something new, I'm not interested."

A chorus of, "Shut up Spike." came immediately.

"What have you got Wesley?"

"Murder suicide. Last night," he said gravely. "A man named Lloyd Reylord was brought into a psychiatric facility rambling about the end of the world. A doctor went in to talk to him and Reylord slit his throat, and then stabbed himself in the chest. Doctors tried to save him, but the internal bleeding was too heavy. He died at nine sixteen this morning."

Fred looked over his shoulders at the picture, wrinkling her nose. "Pretty gruesome."

Gunn put up a hand. "What I don't get is what this has to do with us."

"There was no knife."

Lorne made a face. "So what? The guy had claws or something?"

"No, a nurse swears he had a knife, at least he did before it disappeared. His mentions of the end of the world are parallel to several other cases around the state. I believe that we may have an apocalypse on our hands."

"Goodie," Spike muttered. "My favorite."

Wesley surveyed the group. "I suggest we keep this within our group. Hard as it may seem to believe, Wolfram and Hart still are the bad guys. We can't change things this quickly."

Fred smiled, and pushed back her hair. "Just like old times right?"

* * *

"When's the last time you've slept, Oz?" Kate asked from the passenger's side. "Because I know it's been at least three days." 

"It's only three days." Oz said without taking his eyes off the road.

"Three days where we've crossed the country going at about 70 miles per hour. Oz you haven't stopped driving," she said sternly, "I can do it for a while. You need a break."

"Three days of a full moon," Oz ground out. "If I sleep, I might lose control."

"Oh," muttered Kate. "That would be bad."

"We'll be there by tomorrow."

Kate grinned and leaned back. "As long as nothing bad happens."

That was the precise time their car was rammed off the road.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Jesse asked, rubbing a growing bruise on his shoulders and looking at the Las Angeles scenery with slightly glassy eyes. 

"There's a place a couple of blocks in," Ms. Calendar said. "A hotel. The Hyperion. It's abandoned."

Jesse had never really been out of Sunnydale in his life, but something about that statement didn't quite ring true. "Abandoned. In downtown LA? Why don't they knock it down or fix it up?"

"Because it's haunted. Or possibly the home of a very hostile demon.."

"And we're going to stay there why?"

Ms. Calendar eased the truck into a parking place and put it in park. "Because I don't know about you but I'm not looking to spend a night in a dead vampire's truck. And also, we have no money." She got out of the car and Jesse reluctantly followed.

"So we go into a haunted hotel? If this was a horror movie. We'd be dead already." Jesse, stumbled, still shaky from his encounter with the vampire. "Matter of fact, right about now, me and Xander would be screaming that we were too stupid to live."

"We'll be fine."

Jesse glared at her. "And that's the traditional line of the soon to be dismembered."

"Give it a rest," Ms. Calendar snapped, stopping at the door of the Hyperion.

Jesse arched an eyebrow at her. "Well…"

"You really are an irritating guy aren't you."

"One of a kind."

Ms. Calendar shook her head and pushed open the door, entering the old hotel, Jesse only a step behind. "Not bad for a haunted place," Jesse commented. "Actually pretty nice. Cobweb free and everything."

Voices from another room suddenly floated to them and Jesse paled. "And now we should be leaving. You said this place was abandoned."

A man appeared from the door that apparently lead into the offices, looking almost as uncomfortable as Jesse felt. "Princess. We've got company."

"Great. Fred, Gunn, about time you two got back. Something really weird is going on." Cordelia Chase entered the room, stopping next to Doyle with an expression of open-mouthed shock. "And I'm thinking it just got weirder."

* * *

The van skidded, spinning twice before flipping off the road and ramming into a tree stopping it's momentum. Beside him, Kate's body jerked forwards like it weighted no more than a rag doll. The seatbelt stopped her from hitting the windshield, but only just. Oz slammed into the steering wheel, cursing the fact that there was no air bag to assist in slowing his momentum and darkness swallowed him. 

"_It's started."_

_Unspeakable evil was coming. It was everywhere. And it scared him._

_He turned around, senses on edge. But there was noting, but darkness._

"_Oz." The voice was familiar. "Daniel Osborne. The newest seer for the powers that be. And you know what that means?" He could hear it sneer. "Absolutely nothing. You'll fail. All of the other ones did. And that red-headed girl will be the first to go."_

"_Willow." He muttered fervently._

"_OZ!" A voice screamed._

"_WILLOW!" He couldn't see her, couldn't find her He looked in all directions before his eyes finally rested on a different figure. "Tara?"_

_She smiled. "_Oz."

_She'd done nothing to him, she was just there, smelling like Willow, but he could feel his bones crunching, the familiarity of the change. Everything hurt._

"Oz_!" It wasn't Tara's voice, but it held the same fear Tara's had when he'd started to change on her. _

He woke to the sight of his hands lengthening.

"I swear to God, I'm not afraid to blow your brains out," Kate's voice was shaking and she had a gun trained on him.

"Kate?" He clenched his teeth, but the gun wasn't helping calm him. Visions of Tara hung in his consciousness, just vivid enough so that he was sure that they had been planted. The realization was enough to stop the change. He felt his features shift back to normal. "Are you alright?"

"Been a hell of a lot better," relief tinged her voice and Oz was suddenly aware of the coppery tang of blood in his mouth. She hadn't lowered the gun. "You?"

"I think my arm's broken," Oz muttered, testing it out. "Feels like being shot."

"Like you'd know what that was like," Kate muttered, finally bringing the gun down and moving to unbuckle her seatbelt. "We're lucky not to be dead."

"Yeah." Oz pulled off his seatbelt, trying to assess the damage to his car. Frowning at the fact that it was totaled. "We better get moving."

Kate reached for the door when a loud crack made her freeze. Something flashed in the side mirror. "Something's here."

"Remember that thing you said was following me?" Oz asked calmly.

The van rocked as something ran into it again. "Oh God," Kate muttered.

"I've got a couple swords in the back."

* * *

"We've got a young man here, mid twenties, he looks like he's taken a severe beating. Someone put out the information. We can't let someone like that walk." 

"Where'd they find him?"

"Right outside. They must have just dumped him here."

Spike walked through the wall and into Wolfram and Hart's medical wing. It was the only place he was sure that he wouldn't run into Angel or his groupies. And something about all the blood in the hospital, made him a bit nostalgic. And that made him guilty and guilt put him into a potentially broody state, and no way was he going to be like Peaches. But there was nothing else for a ghost to do.

"I think he's got a collapsed lung, we need to get some oxygen to this guy pronto."

Spike gave a disinterested glance at the patient and muttered, "Poor sod looks like someone went after him with a sledgehammer."

Something about the magnitude of his injuries made him turn back. He looked at the man, caught sight of shaggy brown hair, a long face and half closed brown eyes. "Bloody hell. That's Ben."

* * *

_A couple answers to the reviewers- Lindsey will be here, but probably not until chapter 6 or seven. Darla is still quite dead. Kate and Oz will be explained next chapter (and my goodness is next chapter LONG). That's about all I can say without giving up much (a lot of people for instance were asking about Eve...)_


	5. Getting there

_Author's note- Today's my sixteenth birthday! Woohoo!_

_Now that that's out of the way, I've got something concerning updates to say: when I started posting this story, I already had up chapter four written, but now, I've only two pages into chapter six. tugs collar Which means that once a week posting thing I've been doing is now impossible. You see I'm playing high school soccer (practice everyday during the week), AAU basketball (tournaments on weekends) and I have homework (Darned school). So I can't promise that I'll get the next chapter out quickly. Maybe the week after next. _

_On that happy note, I hope you like this chapter because it was HELL to write. My beta, __Erin__ practically deserves a writing credit on this for all the help gave me. Thanks __Erin__! You're my HERO! _

_Story info and disclaimer on chapter one.

* * *

_

_**Chapter 5- Getting there**_

Two weeks ago, if you had told Kate Lockley she'd be fighting a monster aside a werewolf somewhere just east of LA, she'd have told you to get the hell out of her office. You see, two weeks ago, she was perfectly happy with a job as a consultant to the NYPD, specializing in cases of inexplicable origins.

A week ago she'd gotten a call about a series of killings and Kate had started digging. The victims had next to nothing in common except for an anomaly in their blood stream that seemed to contain traces of wolf DNA. That and the nearly complete obliteration of the bodies. Hating every moment of it, Kate had finally gone to a demon bar looking for answers, and she'd found them. Someone had taken out a hit on a werewolf, they were looking for one that knew the slayer. Speculation about exactly which werewolf it was. Kate, remembering a conversation she'd had with Cordelia, had instead begun looking for any werewolves associated with Sunnydale. A few days later, that had lead her straight to Daniel Osborne; Sunnydale native who'd dropped out of college in his freshman year. Kate could only assume he'd been going through some major changes.

A day later she'd found him on a curbside, fully intending to tip him off and let him deal with the problem on his own. But she'd gotten sucked in. Just like she'd gotten sucked into Angel's world and she just kept sinking deeper in.

Oz was the opposite of what she'd believed a werewolf should be. He, for the most part was calm, in control and likable. Kate hadn't expected that. She hadn't expected to be here. She hadn't expected to ever go back to LA. She hadn't expected the monsters to catch up to them. She hadn't expected… hell she hadn't expected any of it.

The thing rammed into the car again and she was struck with the sickening knowledge that even if it was Oz it wanted, it would have no qualms about killing her as well. And she knew that she shouldn't have gotten involved. She shouldn't be here.

But she had to be here. If not, Oz would… She glanced over her shoulder at the werewolf who was cradling his broken arm with a slightly pained expression. She swallowed. "Where are those swords?"

The response came immediately, "Behind my chair."

Kate leaned back in her chair, pulling out a trunk and unlatched it hurriedly. Grabbing a few swords from it, she took notice of the contents. "Squirt guns?" she asked, even though it was not the time to be making jokes.

"Holy water," Oz explained shortly.

Kate couldn't help but be impressed by the ingenuity of it. "Long range vampire attacks?" She handed him a sword.

Oz squinted out the broken glass of the side window. "This isn't a vampire after us."

_After you!_ Kate's brain screamed. _It's not after me at all! _Her throat was dry and the mere act of breathing hurt. "We should go together, try to catch it off guard."

Oz nodded, awkwardly, placing a hand on the door, while still keeping a hold of his sword.

Kate took a deep breath that did nothing to calm her nerves. "GO!"

* * *

"_What do you mean you lost them?" _The voice was commanding and harsh even on the phone. 

Eve had to struggle to maintain her composure. "I mean they staked that vampire you requested I send after them."

"_Jenkins always was a weak one,"_ the voice scoffed, _"Dispatched by a gypsy and human with no knowledge of the demon world. We're probably better off being rid of him."_

"Tell that to the senior partners. It's their apocalypse you're running," Eve snapped, vaguely aware that she was playing with fire.

"_I underestimated them. It won't happen again."_

"You won't have much of a chance. They're off the radar. Disappeared.."

"_That is unacceptable."_

"Well, at least I've found your transport. He's in Wolfram and Hart's hospital. The god hasn't surfaced yet and The Master's currently wreaking havoc in the poorer part of the city."

"_Bring him in. He's had his fun."_

"Happy to." Eve smirked. "I'll collect Ben as well. Are there any possible… obstacles we should be watching out for."

"_Daniel Osborne is being taken care of. I'll be keeping an eye on Anyanka and the Witch. It's **your **job to keep the rest in check. And when we put the plans in motion, they won't be able to do a thing to stop it."_

"Affirmative." Eve grinned into the phone. "This is going to be fun."

"_This is not about fun. This is about destruction."

* * *

_

The thing was enormous. That was Kate's first impression of it. Just immense size. Shortly after, she began to notice the other details. Thick skin, a single gigantic blood red eye in the middle of his head. The head itself was flat topped and Kate could easily picture it ramming into the side of the van. It's hands were closer to foot long claws.

All in all, it didn't look like a couple of swords would do anything to stop it. Oz had already begun to move forward at a much faster pace than Kate would have expected of him. She paused for a moment before dropping her sword and pulling out her gun, firing a round into the thing's chest. It stumbled, but didn't really slow down. She wondered why she had expected it too.

It turned it's attention away from Oz and onto her with a feral grunt. Oz, taking advantage of it's momentary distraction swung his sword. The thing's left arm fell to the ground. Oz looked at it blankly and then back at the monster. Kate could tell he was waiting for something.

The monster slowly began to regenerated another arm. Oz blinked in surprise and after a second went at it again. He took a swing at it but the thing caught his sword and threw him against a tree. Kate froze, still holding her useless gun, looking for any weakness. She picked her sword back up, holding it defensively in front of her, thinking that if this was the real world, she'd executed a tactical retreat and call for back-up.

She felt a slight bit of relief when she saw Oz, stand up, however shakily, but it was short lived when the monster turned it's sights onto her. _Weak spot._ She told herself_ Everything has a weak spot._

Oz spotted it before her. "The eye!" he choked out, charging forward to grab his sword in an unnatural burst of speed. Kate followed a step behind him with the absurd notion that the eye was too high a target for him. As it turned out, that didn't even matter, with a single swing of it's arm, it sent them both flying towards the van. Oz hit the windshield, and slid down the front of the hood before crumbling into a heap. Kate was luckier. She didn't get the full brunt of the blow. She landed a few feet in front of the van.

She could hear the thing stomping up towards them and she remained motionless, feigning unconsciousness. Eyes trained on the body of the werewolf (dead? He couldn't be dead could he?), she noted that his sword was only an arm's length away.

The shadow of the thing was right on top of her and involuntarily, the crime scene photographs of its past victims invaded her. It prodded her with a clawed hand and Kate involuntarily shivered. The thing roared and raised it's fist, holding her in place with a weak half regenerated arm. Instinctively, Kate reached out and grabbed the sword, spinning so she could face the thing, jabbing blindly at its face. She felt the thing's fist connect with the side of her head and only a fraction of a second later, the sword connected with the beast, but she was afraid that it might be too little too late. Her vision had gone red. She though she heard the monster stumble back, howling in agony, but she didn't know if it was real or her imagination.

Slowly the redness faded to black and Kate lost the fight to stay awake.

* * *

"What do you mean you can't do anything? He's in you're bloody hospital." 

Angel set down a heavy stack of paper. "Spike, I'm not going to kill an innocent guy."

"He good as killed Buffy!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Angel snapped, "You're telling me that the guy down in the hospital on life support, is going to change into some psychotic Goddess."

"About time you sussed it out. I've been going on about it for the last bloody hour!"

"I don't know why I expected better from you," Angel said sharply. "Seems like a soul didn't make any difference."

"This isn't about my bloody conscious. This is about the ticking time bomb whose life your people are saving." Spike paused as he realized he was standing in Angel's desk. "Sod this."

"Spike I'm not going to kill him. He didn't do anything."

Spike snorted. "Peaches, you just might be the single biggest idiot on the planet."

* * *

Giles stared blankly at the page in front of him. It was one of the few volumes they'd managed to recover from the rubble of the council. Some of the text was burnt nearly beyond recognition, but it appeared to be a page from the notorious Prophesies of G'hisnakau. 

He remembered some of the older watchers mention it during his training, saying that the prophesy, should it come to pass would be… of cataclysmic proportions, to say the least.

He stared out the window at the scenery, wondering just when the blasted plane would land before returning his attention to his pad of paper where he had managed to translate a single phrase from the nearly ruined document. _'and the fallen shall rise.'_

Exactly what it meant was a mystery to Giles, but for some reason, his conversation with Oz played through his head. He'd mentioned Tara. Tara who was supposed to be in trouble. Tara who was also, dead. There had never been any doubt about her death. She wasn't Buffy. The chance of successful resurrection wasn't even possible. And yet there were so many unanswered questions. If he'd only known all the details that caused Oz's call and possibly the source of that information, he would have been able to make some sense of it.

He took off his glasses, and wiped them despite the fact that they were clean already. When he placed them back on the bridge of his nose, the single coherent phrase continued to stare back at him.

'_and the fallen shall rise.'

* * *

_

"Doyle grab a stake," Cordelia said hoarsely, eyes trained on the pair, "Now."

"You still treating clients like this Cordy?" Doyle asked jokingly, even as he was scanning the room for any type of weaponry.

Jesse turned around in a panic, half expecting a vampire to be behind him. Ms. Calendar glanced at him and then back to Cordelia. "Nice to see you too."

"You're dead! Angel snapped your neck!" Cordelia shrieked at her before turning and jabbing a finger at Jesse, "And you! You tried to eat me! Xander said he staked you! Oh he'll pay for lying about that one."

Jesse froze, color draining from his face. He swayed, more from shock than from his injuries. "Dead."

"That seems to be going around." Doyle said, haltingly.

"Let's think about this reasonably," Ms. Calendar said, stepping in between Jesse and Cordelia as if anticipating some sort of adolescent fight to break out.

Still uneasy, Jesse looked intently at Cordelia. "I don't remember trying to eat you." He was starting to turn red. Ms. Calendar noticed it was in anger rather than embarrassment. Anger was safe. "You probably deserved it."

"I _deserved _to be vampire food." Cordelia screeched, stepping forward and pushing past Ms. Calendar.

"I'm not a vampire." Jesse told her calmly.

Ms. Calendar looked at Doyle as if pleading for him to do something. Doyle looked at her blankly and shrugged. "You guys got a cross in…"

He was cut off as Cordelia's fist connected with Jesse's nose. Jesse stumbled backward, tripping over his own feet and crashed to the floor. He looked up in wordless surprise, one hand coming up to catch the blood spilling from his nose.

Cordelia stood over him. "So that's it. You didn't go grr or anything."

Jesse laborously pushed himself. "Mostly, I just go ow."

Doyle rolled his eyes. "Cordy, they're not vamps."

Cordelia seemed to deflate. "Sorry." she muttered quietly, "I guess…"

Jesse braced himself against the wall. "I'm dead? I mean I sort of guessed I might have been but…"

"Want to start a club?" Doyle said darkly. "We've got at least three." He looked speculatively at Cordelia. "I don't think this can be all good. We should find Angel and figure it out. You know, before we mess up andthe worldgets blowed up or something."

* * *

Gunn loosened his tie as he stepped out of the Wolfram and Hart offices for the first time in nearly a week. He squinted into the nearly blinding sunlight. He was supposed to be investigating the man who an unidentified assailant had dropped on their doorstep. When he found who did it, he's sue their ass off. 

He briefly hated the fact that suing them came to mind before kicking their asses, but before he could think too hard about it, he saw a flash of dark curly hair. The absurd crossed his mind. "Alonna?" It was the first time he'd uttered her name aloud in nearly two years.

He stood rooted to the spot as the figure disappeared into the busy Los Angeles street. Gunn blinked, wondering if it had simply been a hazard of being cooped up too long, because the alternative… He didn't even dare to think about the alternative. But he still found himself straining his eyes to find the girl. Glancing around sheepishly, he sighed. "Gunn, I think you've just gone off the deep end."

And he walked into the crowd.

* * *

Movement from the edge of the unfamiliar room caught Ben's eyes and he painfully turned his head to look at the figure in the doorway. He had white-blonde hair and some of the palest skin he'd ever seen. 

"The watcher said he killed you," the man said in measured tones, cold blue eyes boring into him. "I helped him bury your body."

"Where am I?" Ben choked. Staring at the monitors lining his bed side.

"You should be in Hell," The man growled. "The Bit told me what you did."

Ben focused dull eyes. "You're that vampire."

"Damn straight. I'm that vampire." Spike took a threatening step forward.

"It wasn't me doing that."

"Glory. That's your excuse isn't it. Bloody hell god living in your body. You're the same person. It's not a sitcom or anything. It's your life. She's you."

"You're going to kill me," Ben guessed, not really caring what the answer was.

"Believe me. I would do it in a second if I could." Spike glared at him for a long moment before turning and walking through the wall and out of the room.

Ben blinked, briefly wondering if the medication he was on was hallucinogenic.

* * *

Willow had only felt slightly guilty for ditching the Scoobies as soon as her plane had landed but, she'd seen a tiny green light bobbing behind Dawn's head and she hadn't had much choice but to follow. She didn't tell anyone why she had to leave. She could just imagine what they say. Buffy would get that far away look in her eyes, Dawn would tear up, Giles would mutter something about how it was impossible, Xander would try to crack a joke to make her feel better and Andrew would fidget guilty, knowing that it was Warren, his old partner in crime that had caused the tragedy. She didn't want to see that. 

She was also uncomfortably aware that she might be being played, and if that was the case, then whoever was doing this would be stopped. But for now… Willow dared to hope.

The bouncing green light in front of her shone like a beacon in the darkness and Willow recognized that it was leading her in the direction of Sunnydale.

* * *

_Angel stood looking at him, surrounded by a pool of blood. Oz approached him hesitantly. "Oz," His voice was pained. "Oz. I think I killed them. Cordy, Doyle, oh god, what if…" _

_Oz took another step forward. He noticed a sign in the background reading Wolfram and Hart._

"_He's dangerous,"a voice came from behind him. Tara's voice. Oz turned around. She smiled. "We all are. Even who you don't expect." The smile twisted into a smirk. "Especially who you don't expect. Look at him. Look at you. Look at…"_

_Tara's form evaporated and a curly haired blond lady walked out of the shadows. "God. I hate this world. Nothing but tiny little humans going about their stupid little lives. And I let them stop me before." She paused and locked eyes with Oz. "My mistake. And nothing. Especially not a sniveling little wolf like you is going to stop it. World's going to hell. And it's going to be a wild ride."_

Oz jerked upright, breathing heavily. He took in the unfamiliar settings. The room was small, with a single circular window cutting into the pale yellow walls, allowing a view to the outside. He was in a small, slightly dirty cot, but with all things considered it, beat the van.

Kate was sitting next to him. She looked worse for the wear, a huge bruise was forming on the right side of her face, her eye was almost swollen shut. She seemed to have cuts up and down her forearm, but there was nothing serious. "I think I killed it," she said hesitantly, picking at a healing scrape. "I kind of blacked out there."

"Yeah." Oz nodded. "Me too." He flexed his left wrist in amazement. "Shouldn't I be hurt worse?"

"Healing potion," Kate explained shortly and when Oz raised an eyebrow in question, she elaborated, "I don't trust magic. Some old witch picked us up. She probably saved your life."

Oz caught a glimpse of a figure in the doorway. He could only assume it was the old witch Kate had mentioned. She was thin, frail and gray haired. He clothes were old and in tatters. When she entered, Kate got up and stood against the wall, watching her with a distrusting eye.

"Visions invade sleep," The old lady croaked, "only in the direst of matters."

"Right," he mumbled, confused. "Thanks for helping." He stuck out a hand and by way of introduction he said, "Oz."

"I know you, seer," she told him. "I know all seers, but right now, you're the important one. You've got to find the vampire. Warn him."

"Who are you?" Oz asked.

"I'm a watcher. But slayers aren't my charge." Her eyes gleamed. "I watch seers. It's my job. Not to intervene, but to watch. I make sure things work. I tell the powers about them. You are out of place. I will send you to the vampire."

"What happened to not interfering?" Kate snapped, arms crossed and suddenly, it was easy for Oz to picture her as a cop questioning witnesses.

"There are rules. Rules broken. Balance upset. Things are out of balance as they are, but the rules of engagement that should not be broken. They broke a rule, so I intervene."

"What exactly is happening?"Oz asked, "I got the cliff notes, I guess. But no where near close enough to make sense of it."

"I'm not permitted to say," she replied, eyes twinkling. "Simply intervene." The door to the room opened, and Kate and Oz both winced as pure white light invaded their vision.

Oz stood up and looked at Kate. "The way to LA."

Kate strained her eyes for another glimpse of the old lady, but she seemed to have disappeared. "What do we have to lose?"

Together, they walked into the light and just a second later found themselves on the doorstep of Wolfram and Hart.

* * *

"This is it," Buffy muttered to herself the Hyperion, not knowing why she couldn't make herself go inside. 

"What's the hold up Buff?" Xander asked from behind her. "It's not like dead boy's still living there. He's busy running an evil law firm."

"Ah," Andrew reminisced, "fighting evil from the belly of the beast, not knowing that the very evil they fight against has begun to consume them."

Dawn smirked. "I think Andrew's read about fifty comic books in the past 5 hours."

"Did not!"

"Oh you so did. I was counting."

"The fact that you were counting is almost more troubling than his reading them," Giles snapped. His eyes softened as he turned to Buffy. "We can find another hotel, Angel's hospitality was generous, yes, but as Andrew so inventively pointed out, we cannot be sure he's still on our side."

Xander adjusted his eye patch to cover up his reaction, before stepping across the group and saying, "Whatever happened to the old fighting spirit. If Angel's evil we'll kill him. See? Everyone wins."

Buffy whacked him playfully on the shoulder and breifly berated herself for feeling the need to pause at the door. She followed him inside.

* * *

She found them walking on the side of the road. 

They were dirty, dehydrated and exhausted. But they were alive. And that was enough.

Willow pulled over the car about twenty miles from the crater that used to be Sunnydale and she got out. The road was deserted in either direction, the novelty of the collapsed town having disappeared into obscurity months ago, but there were two figures walking. They must have been walking for days.

She stares at them both, car door hanging open beside her, a tangible reminder that her mouth was probably hanging open as well.

"Well it's about damn time," Anya groused and that was enough for Willow to know that they were there. Anya and Tara. Alive.

Tara stumbled forward and hugged her tight and for a second, Willow was so startled that she didn't respond, but then she hugged her back, tears welling up in her eyes and for just a split second, things were perfect. Tara buried her face in her hair and whispered, "You found me."

Anya groaned loudly, braking the moment. "As happy as I am that neither of you are dead, I'd rather not watch your immensely enjoyable reunion sex."

Willow, slightly embarresed, disentangled herself from Tara and straightened up. "We've got to get to LA."

* * *

The next time Ben opened his eyes, he wasn't in the hospital. He was in what appeared to be one of Glory's favorite swanky hotels. He rolled over, surprised that he could move. He got to his feet and stumbled to the door. He didn't want to be here. Didn't want Glory's minions bustling around. Just wanted to live normally. Be Ben. 

He reached for the door handle and pulled it open, fully intending to run, but there was someone there. She was short- brown hair and blue eye and a mousy demeanor. "Who the hell are you?" Ben gasped.

"That not very nice. You should at least invite me in." She stepped through the door. "Not that I'm undead or anything. I did save your life after all. Spike would have found a way to kill you." She smirked. "Then again, it's not you we wanted to save." Holding out a hand she said, "My name is Eve."

* * *

_Next chapter: The fluff before the storm and some plot stuff. Thanks for reading. )_


	6. Mostly Filler

_A/N- This chapter was originally supposed to be 2 to 3 times longer than this, and things were going to actually happen. But since it's been so long since I posted, these eventy plot-type things are now in another place known as chapter 7. As a result, this chapter consists entirely of things that have no point but couldn't be left out. You have my apologies for both this and the long wait (Real life took over)._

_Story info and disclaimer on chapter 1

* * *

_

**_Chapter 6- Mostly Filler_**

They saw the sign before they saw anything else. It loomed in their view, foreboding, enormous and evil.

Kate grimaced from annoyance rather than her injuries. "Wolfram and Hart. The old bat sent us to _Wolfram and Hart_."

Oz was staring at the sign in bemusement. "Wolfram and Hart?"

"It's a law firm," Kate explained, a look of intense distaste spreading over her features. "They do business with devils, and I mean literally. They're bad news." She ran a hand through her hair and muttered venomously, "She sends us straight to _Wolfram and Hart_."

Oz's brain flashed back to his dream and he unconsciously murmured, "Dreams invade visions." He grabbed Kate by the shoulder. "Angel's here."

"What?"

"I saw the place," he explained uncomfortably. "Angel in front of the sign." He didn't add that Angel had been saying he killed all his friend.

"Angel at Wolfram and Hart," Kate whispered. "Last I heard of that, he was in an all out war against them."

"This is where we have to be," Oz said, more surely. "We've come this far." He looked at her, almost apologetically.

"I'm with you Oz," Kate sighed, ignoring the sinking feeling in her gut. "It's just me and Angel aren't on the best of terms."

Oz nodded mutely understanding enough to know there was a past history between them. "Angel's one of the good guys, Kate." He said, choosing to leave out the parts about the possible loss of a soul.

"_Oz. I think I killed them. Cordy, Doyle, oh god, what if…"_

He blinked, pushing the dream from his mind. "Let's go."

* * *

"Cordelia," Buffy said in surprise, crossing her arms. "I thought you were in a coma." 

Cordelia blinked, taken aback by her old rival's entrance. "I was never in a coma. And you're supposed to be in Sunnydale. Hellmouth ringing any bells."

"Sunnydale's a hole in the ground,"a voice called helpfully from the other room.

"And you didn't tell me that as soon as you got here?" Cordelia yelled back into the other room.

"Hello to you too," Xander muttered, moving to find a place to sit down and to Giles he said, "I thought dead boy said the hotel was empty."

Giles pulled off his glasses. "Clearly Angel made a mistake."

Dawn entered the Hyperion smiling broadly. "Woah. Angel's got better taste than I gave him credit for."

Cordelia frowned at the unfamiliar person behind Dawn. "Who are you?"

"Andrew," he replied unsteadily, searching her face for recognition. "Remember the flying monkeys at the school play?"

Xander and Buffy exchanged a glance and in unison said. "Tucker's brother."

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Do you guys know where Angel is anyway?"

The group looked somber, Andrew finally saying. "He's working for the forces of darkness."

"Angel working for the forces of darkness," an incredulous Irish voice asked, stepping into the room. "Tell me I missed somethin' and the boss man didn't go to the dark side." When he noticed the room's occupants he grinned and offered his hand to Buffy, "Nice ta see you again."

Buffy shook his hand. "Who are you?"

"Doyle." He answered, not expecting her to have remembered. "We meet a while back when you were in town."

"Oh. I was big with the distraction then."

"Not as bad as Angel I'll beta" Cordelia scoffed. "You had him moping around in his dark hole for weeks! Well, part of that was visions guy here kicking it."

Xander pushed his way in between them. "Hold on. You're dead?"

Doyle opened his mouth as if to respond, but thought better of it.

Ms. Calendar entered the room. "Hey do you guys have any first aid things? Jesse's oozing the red stuff."

She stopped dead in her tracks and stared at the group, finding her voice only after a long moment, "Rupert."

"Jenny," he repeated dazed, staring at her as though sure he was dreaming.

Xander raised a hand hesitantly. "By Jesse, you don't mean."

He picked that moment to walk into the room, a hand still pinching his nose. "Oh. Hey Xander."

"Jesse."

"This is one of those weird dreams where everyone starts barking and turns into dinosaurs, right," Xander babbled.

"I doubt very much that this is a dream," Giles answered, still in a daze. "Andrew, contact Angel."

"What?" Andrew asked, confused, "Who are these people?"

"Dead," said Buffy stepping up and crossing her arms once more, "they're all dead." Her eyes narrowed as she made the next logical conclusion. "Which means The First is back."

* * *

A burley security guard stepped in front of Oz's path. Oz stopped and stared up at him, an unspoken question hanging in the still air. 

Kate cleared her throat. "We're looking for Angel."

"Angel's busy," the brute said.

Oz made a show of nodding to Kate. "We've been tracking a murderer, we have reason to believe that Angel has a connection to one or more of the victims. We'd like to speak with him."

Kate caught the hint and pulled out her private investigator's license. "I'm detective Lockley, and this is detective Osborne, we're trying to keep this under wraps, so we'd appreciate it if we didn't have to get a warrant to search this place."

The guard considered it before finally saying, "His office is up the stairs and to the left," there was a sneer in his voice. "You can take it up with his secretary."

He left them alone and Kate grinned at Oz, "That was a stroke of genus."

They followed the directions only to have Oz stop dead when they approached the desk in front of Angel's office. "Harmony?"

"Oz?" She stood up and walked around the desk. "I haven't seen you since high school."

Oz fingered the cross in his pocket. "That's because you died."

Kate cleared her throat. "We just need to talk to Angel."

"Sure." Harmony gave them a guilty grin. "He can be a bit of a grumpy bear sometimes, and I think I got him the wrong sort of blood this morning. Not to mention the whole thing with poor Cordy."

"What happened to Cordelia," Kate asked hoarsely.

"You guys must have just got to town," Harmony paused dramatically. "Cordy's disappeared."

Oz blinked, a brief look of pained regret passing across his features before he pushed it under the surface. "I need to talk to Angel. It's important."

"Sure thing." She leaned over to press a button on the intercom. "Angel, some people are here to see you."

Angel's voice came back, slightly distorted with static. "_Tell them this isn't a good time_."

Harmony frowned. "Sorry, but I think he's busy brooding right now."

"Tell him it's Oz."

Sighing theatrically, Harmony leaned back over the intercom. "It's Oz."

Angel's voice was louder this time, "_I don't care who it is! I don't want to talk to anyone unless they know something about Cordelia_."

Harmony stood up. "Sorry. Bad time."

Oz glanced at Kate before taking a deep breath. "Tell him I had a vision."

Harmony went quiet. "Like Cordy?" She looked nervous. "I'm not breaking this news to him."

"Why?" Kate asked suspiciously, "In case you didn't guess, this is kind of important."

Harmony spread her arms in an expression of complete helplessness. "Because it means she's really dead."

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence before Oz whispered, "Tell him!"

Harmony reluctantly leaned back down. "Boss."

"_Tell him to leave._"

"He says he had a vision."

There was a long silence before Angel's tired voice came back, "_Send him in_."

* * *

"First what?" Jesse asked, "First baseman? I don't even play baseball." 

Andrew jumped back. "Get away evil fiend! You will never use your mind control on me again!"

"Can the first be in more than on form at a time?" Dawn asked speculatively as she started to move forward, intending to grab Jesse by the wrist, but Buffy grabbed her arm before she could. Dawn jerked back and sullenly glared at her sister. "I was going to see if he was, you know, touchable or not."

Giles stepped forwards to grab Ms. Calendar's arm and take her pulse. The unspoken verdict that this was real washed over the group. Giles cleared his throat and asked, "What do you remember?"

"I remember finding out about the cure for Angel," she told him slowly. "I remember Angelus finding me. He smashed my computer. Chased me. I think he snapped my neck." She swallowed to collect herself. "I woke up in the ruins of Sunnydale. I found Jesse and we came here."

"What happened in Sunnydale anyway?" Jesse asked. "I was thinking nuked, but now, not so much."

"We closed the hellmouth," Andrew said excitedly before he narrowed his eyes, remembering that there was a distinct possibility that they were evil. "Then again I assume you'd remember your last defeat."

"Andrew call Angel," Giles snapped, still not taking his eyes off of Ms. Calendar. "As much as I loathe to work with Wolfram and Hart, we may need to use their resources and with the council rebuilding…"

"I'll call him," interrupted Buffy.

"I could do it!" Andrew protested.

Xander tore his eyes from Jesse. "Does Angel even know you?"

Silence swept over the room and everything seemed a bit awkward. Giles finally cleared his throat. "I don't suppose you have any tea?"

Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes. "I'll go make that call."

* * *

"Angel." 

"Oz." Angel stood up, looking over the werewolf's shoulder with surprise. "Kate."

"Angel… This is really awkward." Kate uncomfortably crossed her arms. "How's it going?"

"Things aren't all sunshine and roses." Angel noticed her bruises. "Then again you don't look that great yourself."

"We got in a fight."

"Oh." Angel said uncomfortably and after a pause added, "are we done?"

"Absolutely."

Angel nodded before directing his gaze towards Oz with uncanny intensity. "You can tell the Powers that be that I'm done with their stupid mission."

Oz blinked. "What?"

"I'm sick and tired of the powers getting my friends killed. I'm done with this."

Kate raised an eyebrow. "So you're running an evil law firm instead," she snorted. "Now that's a little hypocritical."

Angel's gaze remained fixed on Oz. "Cordelia's dead and now you've got her visions. I'm not getting you hurt." He glanced at Kate. "Either of you. So get the hell out."

"That's not happening," Oz said, stepping forward.

Angel picked up the phone. "I'm calling security."

"I saw Cordelia," Oz said suddenly. "She disappeared from her hospital bed."

Angel put the phone back "How do you know that?"

"Doyle's in trouble too," Oz continued.

"Doyle's _dead,_" Angel spat, voice taking on a dangerous tone.

Oz barely flinched. "So's Ms. Calendar. Or at least they're supposed to be." He went mute, waiting for a response.

"So you're saying," Angel started, "they're back?"

Oz nodded. "Ms. Calendar, Doyle, Cordy, Anya, Tara." Kate watched as Angel seem more alive with every name mentioned. "They were some others I didn't recognized."

"Anything else?"

"I don't think it was all good," Oz muttered. "There's something evil rising."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

Oz frowned. "You don't."

The phone rang and Angel ignored it.

"Aren't you going to get that?" Kate asked.

The phone rang again, it seemed to echo in the room.

Angel picked it up, the absurd motto of Angel Investigations briefly flashed through his brain and for a single wild second he was sure he would say 'Angel Investigations, we help the helpless.' But he didn't. That part of his life was over. "Hello."

"_Angel._" The voice came like it was from some sort of dream."_It's Buffy. I think you need to get to the Hyperion. There's some majorly wiggy stuff going on right now._"

"Buffy?" he asked in a daze. "What's happening?"

"_Either the first has managed to become corporeal or we've got about four people doing an excellent imitation of me._"

"What?"

"_You know that resurrection thing,_" she said dismissively. "_The hotel you sent us too wasn't as empty as you said it should be. Angel, Ms. Calendar's here. And Cordy. And Xander's old friend Jesse. And that weird Irish guy you used to work with. It's starting to give me the creeps._"

"I'll get there."

"_You might want to grab Wes. I think Giles wants to do the watcher thing._"

"I'll bring the gang."

"_None of those evil law firm people though. Because for all we know, they could be the ones behind this._"

"Alright, alright. I'll be there as soon as I can." He hung up the phone and turned back to Oz and Kate. "Let's go."

* * *

_Something will happen next chapter. I promise. Also, reviews would be nice. Please?_


	7. Stand off

_A/N- I never like to do this, but right now I'm going to have to address the issue of 'ships for this story, because while nothing is explicitly stated, there are hints of Giles/Jenny, Cordy/Doyle and Willow/Tara. And in future chapters you will get hints of many other parings. None of these are a focal point of the story, but most ARE essential to the plot. If you don't like the 'ships in the story, please don't complain to me about it or request that it become one of your favorite 'ships, because it won't be happening_

_I apologize for the rant, but I feel that I have to say it at some point and I really don't want to start a shipper war. So enough with my ranting and onto the story._

_Story info and disclaimer on chapter one.

* * *

_

**Chapter 7- Stand off**

Willow had thought that her arrival would have made much more of a bang, but when she walked into the Hyperion, the presence of two formally dead people caused very little stir.

Buffy was sitting on the couch, reading one of Andrew's old comic books with a slightly detached expression on her face. Willow could tell that she wasn't really paying attention to the story.

Andrew and Dawn were talking quietly off in a forgotten corner.

Giles was, she did a double take, Giles was in a corner in a serious lip-lock with Ms. Calendar.

Anya walked in behind her, looking around the room with a vaguely amused expression. "Suddenly I don't feel quite so special anymore."

"Willow!" A new voice came from behind her.

She turned around to see Xander, and at his side, Jesse. Willow blinked. She would have thought that she was hallucinating if it weren't for the fact that she found Tara and Anya only hours before.

Jesse. He didn't look a day older than sixteen. Willow could barely remember the times before she'd met Buffy. A sudden wave of guilt washed over her as she realized that although she had pictured Tara coming back from the grave hundreds of thousands of times, she hadn't once pictured seeing Jesse. After she'd met Buffy, Jesse just wouldn't have seemed to fit anymore.

But here he was. Standing there next to Xander like none of it had happened. His grin spanned his face. "Willow! What's new with you? Did you know Xander's a Cyclops?"

Willow balked.

"Wills is sort of gay now," Xander supplied helpfully.

Willow's traitorous mind for just a second flashed back to Oz. It always had and probably always would, but she glanced over her shoulder. Tara was standing behind her, mutely taking in the scene. She smiled. "Yeah, I kind of am."

Jesse let out a low whistle. "Interesting re-introduction." He glanced at Xander. "When am I going to wake up?"

"Dunno," Xander replied easily. "When you do, wake me up too. Sometimes, it feels like my whole life is a dream.."

Anya suddenly appeared behind Willow, smiling widely. "Xander!"

"Ahn?" Disbelief tinged his voice as Anya, smiling broadly, hugged him tight.

Willow felt a sappy grin spread across her face. As much as she and Anya clashed, it was good to see Xander happy.

Anya pulled away from Xander, and looked him intently in the face. "Reunion sex?"

Xander didn't look the slightest bit embarrassed, he nodded once and they were off.

Jesse on the other hand had turned bright red and only managed to choke, "Xander has a girlfriend."

Willow grinned at him. "Give him a break. She's been dead for six months."

Jesse's eyes followed Anya's movements with renewed interest. "That's becoming an epidemic." His voice cracked a little and for just a second, Willow could see just how scared he was.

She suddenly felt a soft hand slip into hers and immediately knew it had to be Tara. Jesse gave her a tight smile. "Lemme guess, she's been dead too."

Willow laughed a little

"I thought so," Jesse said with a flash of good humor.

Willow felt the blood surge to her cheeks. "Tara, Jesse."

Jesse kept a straight face despite the fact that his ears had gone red. He reached out and shook Tara's hand. "Are you two…" His voice cracked and the implication hung unspoken in the air.

Tara smiled shyly.

There was a long awkward pause before Willow sighed and said, "I'm glad you're alive." The words sounded insufficient in her own ears and as she let Tara led her away (she was saying something about needing to talk with Mr. Giles…)

Jesse stood alone with the uncomfortable pictures in his head of his two friends and their significant others. He thought of Ms. Calendar and Giles who definitely had a history and he thought of Cordelia who seemed really fond of that Doyle guy. He shook his head. "I never get one."

* * *

"Harm!" 

She jumped as the specter of Spike walked through the wall behind her. "God, Spike don't do stuff like that to me."

"Where's the poofster?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Angel and his merry band of dimwits are all out," Spike said plainly. "And I don't think they're the type to go have a party."

Harmony rolled her eyes. "He got a call from Buffy I think he went to meet her."

Spike snapped to attention. "Buffy's _here_."

Harmony rolled her eyes. "Yeah. She called about two minutes after Oz showed up."

"Oz?" Spike asked, distracted, "The wolf?"

"Yeah. Apparently there was something big going on…"

"Did he say where?"

"No. He just called everyone and left."

Spike shook his head and turned away, muttering obscenities under his breath.

"Oh! Hold on a second." When she didn't respond, she sighed and yelled, "Spike!"

Spike reluctantly turned back around.

Harmony grinned and held up a package. "You got mail!"

"What?" Spike asked.

"It's addressed to you," Harmony explained, checking the label again to make sure, "care of here. I'd have given it to you earlier but things were sort of hectic."

"Who the hell'd be sending post to a... "

"Ghost?" Harmony supplied, faux helpfully. "Doesn't say. Kind of heavy. Here." Spike held up his hands and after a second, Harmony understood the significance. "Oh. You want me to…"

"If you don't mind."

Harmony shrugged and used a letter opener to slice through the packaging tape as Spike looked on with only mild curiosity. The package opened with a flash of bright light. Harmony blinked twice and looked at Spike who rolled his eyes. "Well, that was a slap and a tickle."

Confused, Harmony examined the package. "There's nothing in here!"

Spike shook his head and started walking away once more, "You see your boss, tell him he's a miserable bastard who..." He was cut short as he walked into a wall, bouncing off of it and landing on the floor. "Bugger! That hurt." He paused for a long second. "Hold on..."

* * *

By the time Angel arrived at the Hyperion, things were almost at a stand still. Buffy was the first to notice him, standing awkward at the front of the place he used to call home. She stood up and walked to the door to meet him. Her eyes were cold and untrusting and it almost broke his heart. "Angel." Her voice was short and clipped but her eyes suddenly softened as her eyes strayed from his. "Oz!" 

"Hey Buffy. Long time."

Buffy grinned and pulled the bewildered werewolf into a hug. "It's been forever."

Oz pulled away, slightly embarrassed.

Angel cleared his throat, for some inexplicable reason, desperate to assert some authority. "We should get them over to Wolfram and Hart. Try and run some medical tests, try to figure out if this is for real."

"No," Buffy replied, attention back on Angel. "I've heard all about that place. No way."

"We've been turning it around,"a distinctly British voice came from behind Angel and Buffy slowly took notice of the rest of Angel's team. "In some time we can do real good there."

"Wesley Wyndam-Pryce," Buffy said, a hind of detached disgust in her voice. "You ever find that stick up your…"

"Oh!" squeaked a mousy hair girl nervously and when Buffy's eyes turned to her, she blushed. "I'm sorry. I don't think we met. I'm Fred. The green guy..." She frantically tugged the poorly dressed demon by the sleeve. "This here's Lorne. We're not evil. Just you know. Part of Angel's team. Have been for a while…"

"I really need to speak with Mr. Giles," Wesley cut in, glancing uncomfortably at Oz. "There must have been a reason this was called to our attention."

"How bout because they're our friends," Buffy snapped back before, turning to look over her shoulder and screaming, "GILES!"

Giles stumbled out of a doorway somewhere behind her. "Yes?" Upon seeing the crowd of newcomers, he straightened up.

Fred raised an eyebrow. "That's a closet."

"I got lost." Upon receiving several skeptical looks he swallowed. "Buffy, you do remember the incident with the nightmares and my being." He coughed. "Lost in the stacks."

The door to the closet opened once again and a severely disheveled Ms. Caldendar poked her head out. "Rupert what's going on?"

Buffy went bright red. "Bad mental images."

Angel looked equally disturbed.

Giles desperately tried not to look embarrassed. "Contrary to what you seem to believe, I am entitled to a personal life."

"But you're old!" the comment burst out of Buffy's mouth involuntarily.

Kate snorted. "Can't be as old as Angel."

Buffy frowned at the unfamiliar voice, and located the source after a few seconds. She was a pretty blonde standing in the back of Angel's group, her eyes were fixed on the slayer. "So you're the famous Buffy?" She let out a dry laugh. "I kind of thought you'd be taller."

"Good one," Buffy said tersely.

"Sorry." She had obviously got the picture that Buffy wasn't someone to cross. "It's just Cordelia told me a few stories about you and she made you seem larger than life. I'm Kate by the way."

She noticed by the ways the others looked at her that she wasn't really a part of Angel's team. Buffy tried to lighten the tone, "So who's vouching for Kate. I'm not turning this over to Wolfram and Hart."

Oz glanced behind him at Kate. "I am."

Giles looked at Oz, a hint of a smile on his face. "I see you've handled yourself aptly."

"I'm hard to kill."

Angel raised a hand. "As nice as this, let's get reacquainted thing is, we've got more important…"

Jesse walked into the room, drawn by all the commotion. "What I miss?"

Angel barely registered the new face. "We're going to take them back to Wolfram and Hart."

"Wolfram and Hart?" Jesse echoed dumbly, "What are they a rock band?"

"Evil law firm," Ms. Calendar supplied helpfully. "They're lawyers for demons."

"We have medical testing that should be done," Angel continued, ignoring the distractions. "We've got work to do!"

Doyle and Cordelia appeared at the top of the stairs, observing the stand off with interest before Cordelia squealed, "Angel!" and made a dash down the stairs, Doyle following closely behind.

Much to Buffy's surprise, she launched herself into Angel's arms and hugged him tight. "It's good to see you."

Angel stared at her, dumbfounded. "You're… You're…"

She gave him a megawatt smile. "Looking pretty good for someone who's been out of it for a few years." She pulled away. "What's this these bozos keep telling me about a coma?"

"You died," Angel finished.

Cordelia frowned for a second before completely dismissing the statement. "Well, I'm not dead now, so whatever." She looked behind Angel. "Oh my God. Fred! You're looking great."

Doyle and Angel regarded each other for a long moment before, fed up Buffy said, "Say something already."

Doyle grinned brightly. "Long time huh?"

Angel smiled back, all the while thinking that this was as close to perfect happiness that he could be, his two best friends were alive, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ms. Calendar, and the guilt came crashing back. "I'm sorry."

"If you've been beating yourself up over that all this time, you really didn't remember a word I said to you."

Lorne cleared his throat, "Not to put a damper on all of this but has anyone considered the possibility of a very nasty counter-reaction."

Wesley cleared his throat and diplomatically said, "Perhaps it would be best to go to Wolfram and Hart, we have access to research materials that could be of a great use."

Giles sighed. "I have been looking for a copy of _The Prophesies of G'hisnakau_. The council's copy didn't quite survive its destruction."

"Giles!" Buffy whined, "You seriously can't be considering this!"

"If you have resources, you have to use them, Buffy." Giles fixed a distrustful glare on Angel. "As much as I loathe to admit it, at the present time, Wolfram and Hart is all we have."

"Fine," Buffy said grudgingly, "but I'm not going to be the one who goes to tell Willow, Xander, Anya and Tara about it."

* * *

"You have a limousine!" Anya exclaimed as she followed the others out of the Hyperion. Her irritation with them for pulling her and Xander away from their well deserved reunion sex was fading quickly. 

Angel evidently hadn't heard her. "We've got room for about 10 in each."

"You've got _two_ limos?"

Angel glanced at her. "I had to call to get the second one, but yeah."

Anya sighed. "Evil really does pay better."

Five minutes later she was in one of the limousines, sitting next to Jesse and across from Lorne. She ground her teeth. "It would have been nice to be with Xander."

Lorne gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry cupcake, but Angel's got you in quarantine."

Cordelia and Doyle were talking quietly in seat farthest back and Anya felt a pang of jealousy as she took notice at how their hand kept touching. Tara and Ms. Calendar were sitting in the seat ahead of them, staring out opposite windows.

"We're not sick or something are we?" Jesse asked tentatively, "Because I'm not looking to die again."

"Besides," Anya cut in, not wanting to hear the paranoid babble, "we'd have already infected just about everyone and they wouldn't have made you ride with us."

"Whoa." Lorne reached up and put a hand to the back of his neck, "good guess. I'm here to check you out."

"And I used to find doctors scary," Jesse mumbled, eyeing Lorne wearily.

"Nothing to worry about. I just have to have you sing for me."

"You separated me and Xander just so you could make us sing karaoke?"

"Essentially, yes," Lorne explained with a nod, "you see, I'm an empath demon, I can read people when they sing to me, see into their soul."

"My soul's private," Jesse groused.

Anya on the other hand saw where this was going. "That's how you're checking up on us."

"Right in one sugarplum." Lorne grinned, "So are you going to grace me with a tune?"

Anya hesitated for only a split second before singing the first few lines of the national anthem. Cordelia, Doyle, and Ms. Calendar grimace in unison. Jesse clapped his hands over his ears. Tara had moved her gaze from the window and had begun staring at Lorne as if waiting for something to happen…

…which it did. Lorne who had been listening to Anya's singing in barely disguised distaste, suddenly seized up, clutched his head and screamed.

Anya abruptly stopped singing. "It's not_ that_ bad."

Lorne had slid off his seat and collapsed to the ground.

Ms. Calendar made her way over to him. Not knowing much about demon physiology. She tried to find a pulse. Cordelia leaned forward. "Is he alright?"

Lorne let out a sputtering cough. "And here I was hoping that I never had to do that again."

Anya grimaced. "Is my soul unclean or something?"

"I don't know," Lorne said sitting up. "Something was blocking me. I couldn't see a thing."

* * *

"Gunn!" Rondell's voice had a distinct sarcastic bite, "How _nice_ of you to come down and visit. Taking some time off of hanging with his new hotshot lawyer pals. And here I thought playing demon detective would be enough for him but no…" 

Gunn had expected the animosity, but it still hurt. "Look Rondell, I'm sorry I haven't come down to see you guys but…"

"But nothing! I got kids in the gang who ain't never even heard of no Charles Gunn. You can't prance back in here like you're still our leader."

"I'm not doing any of that. I just got a question for you."

"Figures," grumbled Rondell, leaning back against the alley wall. "Charles Gunn's above coming to see his family anyway."

Gunn swallowed. "Rondell, the other day, I thought- I thought I saw my sister."

Rondell stiffened. "Alonna?"

"Yeah. She was walking down the street in broad sunlight and I followed her. I keep getting glimpses of her. I was wondering if you knew who would have the balls to imitate her." He paused as he caught sight of Rondell's facial expression. "You know something about this man, because friend of not, I'm going to have to lay your ass down if you lie."

"She just appeared in the shelter man," Rondell said nervously. "We thought she was some sort of demon or something, because I knew she was long dead man."

"She's here?" A look of shock washed over Gunn. "This is for real."

"I don't know man. I though things stayed dead when you staked them."

But Gunn wasn't listening, he was moving out of the alley, a genuine smile spanning his face. "She's real… she's alive."

* * *

"So what is this thing anyway," Jesse asked edgily as Fred circled him, waving some sort of scanner in the air. 

"Oh this! I invented it myself. It senses people's auras. I get a complete read out on my computer over there. It can tell my if you've had any spells cast on you, if you're a demon or not." She giggled. "It's a bit of mixing science and magic, but it's way cool and since Lorne couldn't read any of you guys, this is our next best bet."

Her computer emitted a loud been and she went over to check the readouts.

Jesse smirked at her. "Did I pass?"

Fred returned his grin. "Well, you're a 16 year old human male with no magical ability of your own who hasn't had any spells cast on you in the past two weeks." She nodded, "Yep. I think you're in the clear."

"I could have told you that myself," his voice was accusatory, but he grinned to tell her he was joking.

"I think you're the last one to check." Fred told him conspiratorially, "I kind of wish I had some different results to show you what this thing can really do. The only interesting thing around here to examine is Spike."

"Is Spike your dog or something?"

"No, silly," Fred said, whacking him on the shoulder. "Spike's our resident ghost. I'm sure you'll see him around soon enough."

"Don't worry, I think you've got Tara next. You still might find something cool."

Fred giggled. "Why thank you Jesse. It was a pleasure working with you."

She pushed open the door and Jesse looked at the group. "I passed the first test of my life!"

Fred shook her head. "Who's next."

Willow pointed towards Tara. "She's the only one left."

Fred lead Tara to the entrance of the lab, but before they could go in, they were distracted by Oz who had doubled over and smashed his head onto the table. His eyes were closed but behind the eyelids they darted frantically around. The whole ordeal lasted only twenty seconds, before Oz collapsed, exhausted back in his chair.

"What the hell was that."

Oz opened an bleary eye. "We've got trouble."

* * *

_In the next chapter, there will be bad guys and there will be plot and because of that, there will be much rejoicing. Seriously I realize that this story is taking FOREVER to develop. But things are starting to happen… _


	8. Blindsided

_Thanks to the reviewers. You guys really brightened my day. I'm glad to know there are people are reading this. I apologize if any of the shipper stuff irks you, but honestly, this is not a romance story. And to all you people asking for an Angel related ship, I would like to say I ship Angel/Kate. But this story is not going to be Angel/Kate. Nor is it going to be Angel/Cordy or Angel/Buffy. In a few chapters, you'll realize that I'm sparing them all alot of pain…_

_I hate transcribing and I probably did a shoddy job of it, but parts of this chapter transcribed from Soul Purpose, I found the transcript at www. buffy-vs-angel .com. _

_Again thanks to Erin who is largely responsible for people staying in character. And now that I've bored you all to tears here's the story (and this chapter's HUGE.)_

_Story info and disclaimer on chapter one._

**_Chapter 8- Blindsided_**

Cordelia was staring at Oz in shock. "You just had a vision," she accused. "Why do you have my visions?"

Doyle who had been watching the scene in muted shock, came to life. "Your visions Princess? When did you ever have visions?"

Cordelia's attention turned to the Irishman, age old irritation bubbling to the surface. "Since you kissed me and got yourself incinerated!"

"I did what now?" Doyle asked, confused.

"You only kissed me to give me the visions!"

"Princess, calm down. I think this is one of those private conversations that might be better off, you know, private."

Cordelia glared at him.

"Well if you want to be that way, should I be asking exactly how Oz got the visions." His eyes sparkled with good humor and Cordelia couldn't help but smile back.

Oz gave a small moan and tried to pull himself up to a sitting position. Willow, paralyzed with fear, watched him. "Are you OK?"

Oz glanced in her direction eyes softening for just a second. "Fine."

Fred gave a small squeak. "You had a vision! I've got to go find Angel." She could hardly contain her delight. For months now, she was sure that the powers had given up on him, but it seemed that they hadn't.

Oz laboriously pushed himself up, swaying slightly on his feet. "I'm coming."

Kate raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Can you even walk?"

It turned out that Oz was stronger than she gave him credit for, he took a few shaky steps before looking at Fred who shrugged. "Follow me."

* * *

A curly hair blonde stretched luxuriously on the couch of the high price apartment. "Now that's better." 

"About time," sniffed Eve from the doorway. "I was wondering if you were even going to surface."

"Girly," Glory said, examining her nails. "I don't know who you are, but if you expect to be alive for another minute, I suggest you get yourself far away from here."

To her surprise, Eve did not move. "My name is Eve." Glory made a threatening step towards her. "I'm from Wolfram and Hart. Liaison to the senior partners."

The name held such power that it stopped Glory in her tracks. "What was old Benji doing with the likes of you. Here I thought he still enjoyed pretending he was one of the good guys."

"We picked him up," Eve explained easily. "You see we've got plans—big plans. Plans involving you."

"Are you going to tell me these big plans or just stand there yammering about them?"

"I hear you and the slayer have some background."

"Stupid bitch wouldn't give me my key."

Eve took a step forward and grinned. "How would you like the chance to get even?"

* * *

"Buffy, I'm sorry. I don't like it any more than you do." 

"Angel you work here. For lawyers. And here I thought you running a detective agency was weird."

She was sitting on his leather couch, and he had deliberately positioned himself behind his desk. For some reason the space seemed essential. He was uncomfortably aware of the fact that there was a stake in her pocket. Angel sighed. "This place—they try to trap you. Give you what you want most."

Buffy felt the anger subside a little. "What did they offer you, Angel?"

There was a time when he would have told her everything, but at that moment, he looked her square in the eyes and knew that he couldn't do that anymore. "Buffy," he began, but the door to his office burst open and Fred stumbled in, followed closely by a haggard looking Oz.

Buffy stood up. "What happened."

Angel already knew. He'd seen the look on Oz's face before. Seen it on Doyle's face, seen it on Cordelia's face. "You had a vision."

Oz nodded slightly, looking like he was ready to collapse. Angel stared at him expectantly.

"There's going to be an attack," he said, closing his eyes as if to try to recreate the images. "By the docks maybe."

"Who's going to be attacked?" Buffy asked quickly, "What's attacking them?"

"There's a lady," Oz told them, eyes shut. "Curly blonde hair, way too powerful for her own good. I've never seen her before. The victims. I think their last name's Gunn. And I think I saw Jesse. I don't know." He opened his eyes and Angel was shocked to see barely concealed pain in the normally stoic werewolf. "It's going to happen tonight.."

Angel put a hand on Oz's shoulder and steadied him. "We'll stop this."

And then Fred raised a tentative hand. "Gunn has a sister?"

"Yeah," Angel said, moving to his desk looking for a sheet. "But she's dead."

"Then how can," Fred began and then stopped, "oh."

Angel nodded and turned to Buffy. "Go with Fred and get everyone. Especially anyone who can hold their own in a fight. Keep Jesse out of this though. I don't want anyone getting hurt." Buffy and Fred nodded, leaving the room and Angel turned to Oz. "You're going to tell me exactly who you saw doing this."

Oz swallowed and started to explain.

* * *

Spike set out for the bar as soon as the sun went down. Granted, he hadn't returned to Wolfram and Hart the last evening for fear of running into Buffy. Which when he thought about it logically was stupid because he was sure (fairly sure at least) that Buffy would be happy to see him, or at the very least glad that he wasn't dead. 

But he couldn't bring himself to go see her. Something about the impending confrontation made him incredibly nervous. Strike that, it made him bloody terrified. Even when he and Buffy were on fairly good terms, they weren't exactly friendly.

He took a sip of his whiskey and wondered when exactly he'd become this much of a wanker.

He blamed the soul but that was only because he couldn't bring himself to blame her. He sighed and finished off his drink, rooting through his pocket for some money for the next one. But before he could order, someone placed a fresh drink on the table in front of him. He looked up to see a man, with longish brown hair and bright blue eyes staring at him. As the man smirked at him, Spike pushed the offered drink away. "Be a good lad and push off." He placed his own money on the table, attempting to concentrate on the pole dancer in front of him. The man didn't leave and his gaze soon began to make him uncomfortable. "What are you gawking at?"

The man shrugged. "A guy like you, whiling away his time in some cheesy downtown strip dive. Look like somebody who's feeling kinda lost."

"Is that right?" Spike snorted. "Funny, thought I knew exactly where I was." He pointed at the sign over the stage. "Place called the Peppermint Stick." He jerked his finger in the direction of the pole dancer. "Prima ballerina up there's Sunshine. Though I'm fairly certain that's not her real name."

The stranger shifted uncomfortably. "You know... we really should talk."

Spike sighed. "You know? Really not." He stood up and fixed one of his glares on the man. "I don't know what you're selling, but best you peddle your wares someplace else if you know what's good for you." He turned to walk away.

"Hey, Spike." He abruptly stopped walking. He'd never told the man his name. "Get any interesting mail lately?"

Spike turned around slowly. "Who the bloody hell are you?"

The man sat at the table where he had sat only moments before and gave him an irritating smile. "Your new best friend."

"You!" Spike said, realization dawning on him. "You say you're responsible for me being back?" Seized by a fit of inexplicable rage, he stalked over to the man who was grinning smugly at him. "You sent that package with the de-ghosting mojo."

"And?" the man prompted.

Something clicked. "The amulet," He said slowly as the man nodded. "You mailed that thing to Wolfram & Hart."

"Hey, couldn't leave your spirit trapped in a bauble at the bottom of a hellmouth, could we?"

_You should have_, thought Spike, but aloud he asked, "And who's 'we'?"

"Come on, Spike. You must know there's a lot of folks out there that are interested in you." He took a casual sip of his drink. "Powerfully interested, one might say…"

Spike grabbed the man by the wrist, knocking the glass to the floor. "Enough with the cryptic, butch. I want to know who..." He noticed an odd pattern of tattoos on his forearm. "...or what you are... what you want, and how fast I can snap your forearm before you answer."

"You can call me Doyle," the man said, holding his gaze. And for just a second, an inexplicable picture of a skinny dark haired Irishman floated to Spike's consciousness… "But it's not what I want... it's what you want." Spike let go of the man's arm half figuring that he wasn't worth it. Doyle grunted softly, "You got your life back now. What are you gonna do about it?"

Spike wondered why he didn't just leave.

* * *

Oz surveyed the sketch, nodding. "That's her." 

Angel looked at his drawing. It was of a curly haired lady, dyed blonde, wide-set eyes, full lips. "Have you ever seen her before."

"Asides from the vision?" Oz asked, "Never."

Angel immediately berated himself for the stupid question. Oz had always been short on words but he wasn't one to hold out important information. "I'll go run this by Buffy. She might have seen her somewhere. "Vampire?"

"Stronger," Oz replied with conviction although his voice sounded tired.

A thought occurred to him. "When's the last time you've had any sleep?"

Oz glared at him. "I'm coming."

* * *

"I've heard enough," Spike said, turning to walk towards the exit. 

Doyle followed him talking insistently, "Don't you even want to know why you came back to L.A.? You hate this city. There's gotta be a reason, right?"

"You talk a lot for somebody saying nothing."

In frustration, Doyle put a hand on Spike's shoulder to stop him. "You've got a destiny…"

Spike turned, and in one smooth motion had Doyle pinned to the wall by his throat. "Look I don't know who you are but I'm not interested. My destiny ended with Sunnydale."

He let Doyle go. Not feeling the slightest bit of guilt as the man gasped for breath. "I'm just doing what they tell me." He muttered, stumbling away from the wall.

"They?"

Doyle pointed skywards "They!" He jerked his finger downwards "Them! The ones that brought you back. I don't know who they are." He made a wide helpless gesture. "Look, I'm just a guy. I'm nobody. A drifter. I was minding my own business, and then one day… Wham! I start having these visions."

"Visions?" Spike asked despite himself.

"Yeah," Doyle said softly, "like brain pictures, but they hurt. Like when you eat ice cream too fast. You start seeing people in trouble..." He lifted his gaze off the floor and fixed it on Spike "...who need a champion."

"Hey, you are barking up the wrong vampire. That's Angel's beat."

"Angel's not in the picture anymore. All right?" Doyle said frantically. "He's working the other side of the tracks. He's got to get himself in deeper than is good for him. Wolfram and Hart sucks the life out of you. Nobody is out there helping the people that really need help. "

"What," spat Spike sarcastically, "so I'm supposed to jump every time you get a vision of someone in dire peril?"

"Why do you think we're having this conversation? I had one right before I came here. You don't have to believe me, but if a young girl gets murdered tonight and you didn't lift a finger to stop it, ask yourself... can you live with that?"

* * *

Buffy smiled and twirled her sword. "I'm liking these weapons." She grinned at Angel who had just entered the room. "Where'd you come up with this stuff." 

"I get around," Angel said, staring at her. "I've got a picture. Thought you might know what we're up against."

Buffy accepted the sketch, face paling when she saw the face in the drawing. "But this is Glory."

"Glory?" Angel repeated, "She's…"

Buffy cut him off. "She's the one who killed me."

A memory stirred in the back of his head, Spike trying to convince him to have someone killed.

"_This isn't about my bloody conscious. This is about the ticking time bomb whose life your people are saving."_

Angel swallowed. "We should get going."

Buffy stared at the sketch for a long moment. "Yeah. We should."

* * *

"How's it going Bam-Bam." 

Oz only dimly registered Doyle's voice, his lips quirked on their own accord. "Bam-Bam?"

"You don't remember that, huh?" Doyle said sitting down next to him. "Honestly I don't really either. It's just one of those things Cordy'll never let me forget."

"You were drunk," Oz said distantly.

"It happens," Doyle admitted. "I could go for a drink about now. I always get the feeling that I'm marching into doomsday."

"Yeah?" Oz asked.

"So what did you do? How'd you get dragged into this?"

"Into what?"

"The vision guy role," Doyle clarified. "It's a punishment for most. Atonement and all that. These visions aren't a coincidence. What did you do?"

Visions of Veruca danced in Oz's head followed immediately by thoughts of Tara. Tara who he used to dream of killing almost every night. The dreams had subsided, but all the guilt was still there. He stared at Doyle. "I made a mistake."

Doyle stared back a him, eyes just as haunted. "Me too."

* * *

Gunn had tailed her to the docks, getting short glimpses of curly brown hair all day. 

His sister. He couldn't quite believe that his sister was alive. It was like he was dreaming. He cleared his throat. "Alonna?"

All was silent save the water gently lapping up against the docks.

"Alonna! I know you're here!"

The silence was deafening, twilight slipping unseen into the dark of night.

Gunn turned around slowly trying to get another glimpse of her. "Alonna!" he shouted again, "are you he…"

He was cut off as something slammed into his back. "Wha…?"

His head was slammed roughly into the pavement. A familiar voice hissed in his ear, "Who are you! Why have you been following me!"

"Alonna?" Gunn choked as his vision doubled.

She twisted his left arm back and screamed, "How do you know my name!"

"Alonna, it's me," he said, grimacing. "It's Gunn."

His head slammed into the pavement again and he felt the sticky red blood start to slid down his face. "I know my brother. And he don't dress like no hotshot lawyer off to scam on the little man."

"Alonna," he pleaded.

Frustrated, she rolled him over to get a look at his face.

And for the first time in years, Gunn stared his younger sister straight in the face. Not knowing what else to do, he started to laugh. "Damn girl, you pack a real punch. Remind me to never get on your bad side."

Her eyes widened. "Oh God. Gunn. I'm sorry." She helped him get to his feet. "Are you OK? I thought you were…"

"I'm fine," Gunn said grinning. "I'm just glad to see you." He pulled his sister into a fierce hug.

"Aww," said a new voice from somewhere above them, "How sweet." The figure jumped down from the rooftop where she'd been standing. "Don't you just love happy endings." She grinned. "Personally, I think they're overrated

* * *

Angel felt like he was back with the Scoobies. Marching into battle with Buffy, Willow, Cordelia, Tara and Oz made him feel uncomfortable. Made him feel like he was the outsider again. But this was his city. This was supposed to be his mission, but with the notable exceptions of only Kate and Doyle, he was surrounded by the self-proclaimed Scooby gang. 

Wesley had accompanied Giles and Mrs. Calendar back to the Hyperion in order to research some prophesy. They'd, at Buffy's insistence taken Dawn, Andrew and Jesse along as well. Lorne had, as always, sidestepped any mention of possible violence and Fred said she needed to recheck the lab reports in case she'd missed something. Doyle on the other hand had grinned and proclaimed himself combat ready.

He heard voices floating over the still night air, recognized one of them. "Gunn."

Doyle looked up at him. "The docks are about two blocks up."

They heard a crash and Angel started to run.

* * *

Spike threw the vampire into the splintered remains of the wooden porch at the end of the alley and watched with detachment as it exploded into dust. 

The vampire's victim stood up shakily behind him. "Thank you! Thank you! That thing was gonna kill me! "

Spike turned on her. "Well, what do you expect? Out alone in this neighborhood? I got half a mind to kill you myself, you half-wit."

The girl stepped back, shocked. "What!"

Spike ignored her comment and continued, "I mean, honestly, what kind of retard wears heels like that in a dark alley? Take two steps, break your bloody ankle."

"I was just trying to get home," the girl said defensively.

Spike pushed her towards the lit street, "Well, get a cab, you moron." As she walked away he added, "And on the way, if a stranger offers you candy, don't get in the van!" he rolled his eyes and muttered, "Stupid cow."

"Believe me now?" Doyle's voice came from his position on a fire-escape

"What, your victim vision?" Spike snorted, "Please. Can't throw a bloody stone in this town without hitting some bimbo in trouble."

Doyle walked down the fire escape towards him, "Tough guy, huh? Nice work, by the way, takin' out that vamp."

"Oh, yeah," Spike said dryly. "Epic battle. My finest hour."

Doyle looked at him earnestly. "You just saved a girl's life. It's nothing to laugh off. Though you could try being a little nicer next time. You almost made her cry."

"Next time?"

Doyle shrugged. "Well, that's up to you. A lot more people need saving."

"News flash, sparky: Don't need your help. Been saving people long before you showed up."

"Not like this." Doyle shook his head. "You just helped a person when there wasn't anything in it for you. That's not like the Spike I know."

"Oh, is that right?" There was a dangerous edge to his voice, "And what Spike is that?"

"The Spike that's only out for himself," Doyle replied, seemingly unaware that he was playing with fire. "The one who does good deeds to impress...women."

Spike turned, angrily. "You'd best watch your…"

"I'm just sayin'. You did good. From what I hear Angel didn't save the girl on his first mission."

"What's Angel got to do with this?"

"Nothin'," Doyle said slowly. "Not anymore."

* * *

Angel rounded the corner only to see Gunn's body smash into the wall of a nearby building and slumped down. A girl's shrill scream reached his ears. 

Buffy was a half step behind him, but she seemed to freeze at the sight. "Glory."

The attacker turned around. "Slayer! Long time no see."

Doyle hissed in his ear, "She doesn't smell right."

Angel had noticed that himself. She looked human, but everything about her scent screamed that she wasn't. She definitely wasn't a vampire. Nor did she have sharp demon undertone that characterized the half human like Doyle or Oz.

Somewhere behind him, he heard the sound of a crossbow's slow loading. And a second later the bolt whizzed past his ear.

Glory caught it easily, and looked at it in distaste. "A cross bow? Slayer, your friends are digressing in intelligence."

Angel already knew the next move. He'd heard Kate slip out her gun. He grabbed her by the wrist. "Now's not the time."

"Well you going to stand there all day or are we going to fight."

Angel held his breath as he saw Alonna creeping up behind Glory, armed with a trashcan lid. She pulled back to hit her, buy Glory whirled around and grabbed her by the throat. "Now just what do you think you're doing."

Gunn saw Glory with his sister and rose with a roar.

And the calm was over.

* * *

Giles had a headache. It was not from hours of obsessing over a prophesy, but rather from the bloody infernal racket coming from the hotel room adjacent to the one he was working in. 

He believed it was called "Backstreet Boys."

Telling them to stop wouldn't help. He'd tried it many times before, but had eventually given up.

He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes before returning to the prophesy. "That's strange."

"What is?" Ms. Calendar asked hopefully, "And please say we've started making some sort of forward motion."

"Not really," Giles said, "it's just. I haven't ever read anything quite like it. If my translation is correct. The prefix reads 'an apocalypse'."

"So this guy was a bit non-descript," Ms. Calendar said dismissively.

Wesley looked over Giles's shoulder curiously. "As a rule, none of these prophets really knew any of the other's works. This of course resulted in thousands of prophesies all claiming that this was how the world would end. It's quite fascinating really. It also implies that the prophesy does not had a set timeframe, but rather occurs whenever conditions are correct."

Ms. Calendar rolled her eyes. "And I used to think you swallowed textbooks, Rupert."

Wesley ignored her. "It seems to say something about the time of imbalance. Which I can assume means…"

"Of course," Giles interrupted suddenly. "It's the slayer spell." When Wesley's attention snapped towards him he felt obliged to explain, "Willow cast a spell that endowed all the potential slayers with the powers of a full slayer. It was the only way to even come close to defeating the First."

"The First Evil cannot be defeated!" Wesley exploded angrily, "It's part of how everything has always been. There is good, and there is evil. There's a balance. There is evil, yes, but a certain amount of it is necessary." Wesley glared at him. "Thanks to your carelessness, the way has been paved for what could possibly be the most cataclysmic apocalypses of all history."

There was a crash from outside, interrupting Wesley's rant and Giles stood up and opened the door to the room. "Andrew! Dawn! For God's sake keep it down in there."

* * *

"You know I don't get you humans," snarled Glory, "always picking fights you have no chance of winning." She turned easily and threw Kate into a wall and Oz couldn't help but see her point. He doubted that any of them had gotten a decent hit at her. As a matter of fact, he wasn't even sure she had moved. As far as he could tell, it was only Willow and Tara who'd escaped the majority of the physical damage, but even their spells seemed to do little to slow Glory. Oz nearly froze with the sudden knowledge that they weren't going to beat her. This wasn't like the mayor when he'd believed, despite everything that they'd had an outside chance at winning the fight. They'd had a plan. But here there was no plan, just all out chaos. A handful of stubborn individuals who either had death wishes or who didn't know a losing battle when they saw one. They weren't the Scoobies any more. The lack of teamwork in their attack was painfully obvious he wondered when they'd stopped being a team… 

He heard Buffy's voice, "What are you doing here Glory. You do remember last time. I'm sure it wouldn't be hard for me to go find my trusty troll hammer."

Glory suddenly began to laugh and this time, everything did stop. Willow and Tara stood side by side, lips frozen in some spell. Cordelia and Doyle were huddled together in the corner, both seemingly holding the other up. The brother and sister from his vision were on the other side of the docks. He had fallen into step behind Angel like it was the most natural thing in the world, Kate a foot or so to his right. Only Buffy stood alone.

"This isn't about you," Glory's voice cut through the air like a knife. "I could kill any one of you right now, but I'm not going to. I'd rather see you fail. The world's going to end." She smiled. "And none of you can do a thing to stop it. Slayer." She leaned in towards Buffy, who, to her credit didn't flinch. "It's never been about you." Glory flashed her another smile. "Catch you later."

Buffy's eyes widened in realization. "Dawn."

And after she'd seen the slayer and her companions rush off to the Hyperion, Glory crouched in the shadows and smiled. "Good guess."

* * *

Jesse felt like he was back in high school. All the cool kids got to go fight the bad guys and save the world. Not that anyone he had known in high school had saved the world on a regular basis. And it's not like he could actual fight. His high school career mainly consisted of bloody noses so he really didn't blame them for leaving him behind. It wasn't like he had a death wish. 

The glass window to the lobby of the Hyperion exploded inwards, jarring him roughly back into the world of the living and he sat up from the couch to see what was happening. He caught a glimpse of distorted features and a pale white face. He sank back down, praying he hadn't been seen.

The voice of his murderer drifted to his ear. "Isn't anyone going to come out to play?"

From upstairs he heard Giles shout, "Andrew! Dawn! For God's sake keep it down in there!"

In response, the music from the room grew even louder.

Jesse struggled to calm his erratic breathing; Looking for something, anything he could use as a weapon, trying desperately not to remember the last time he saw that vampire. Because the last time. He didn't make it out alive.

The Master stood in the doorway, drawing himself up to full height as Jesse quaked behind the sofa.

Softly, very softly the Master said, "I know you're here."

* * *

_And… chapter._


	9. Bad Things and Good People

_Woohoo! In honor of summer time and the lack of school, I bring you an all new chapter! While it's not as long as the last one, it's pretty pivital to the rest of the story._

_Story info and disclaimer on chapter 1_

_**Chapter 9- Bad things and Good People**_

"Lindsey." Eve smiled as he walked through the door of their apartment. "How did things go?"

Lindsey dropped his coat on the chair and walked towards Eve taking her by the hands. "Perfect. Spike doesn't have a clue."

Eve studied his face. "You sure?"

Lindsey laughed. "The senor partners won't know what hit 'em."

Eve kissed him on the cheek. "And the world will crumble." She tried to pull him towards the bed but Lindsey wouldn't move.

He pulled away, eyes narrowing slightly. "Who said anything about the world."

* * *

"Dawn! DAWN!" Buffy burst into the Hyperion, noticing the broken glass on the floor only when she stepped on it. She bent down to see that the whole floor was covered with it. The window was broken. Someone had broken in. "Dawn!" 

Angel entered the room only seconds after, followed closely by Oz. "Buffy!"

Grabbing the slayer by her elbows, Angel pulled her to her feet. "Buffy get it together."

She gazed up at him with glassy eyes. "They took her."

Oz looked at them and nodded slightly. "I'll go get Giles."

Doyle entered the hotel, breathing heavily. "It's not fair, all you guys with super powers going off and leaving us poor mortals in the dust."

Cordelia snorted from beside him. "Us mortals. Have you forgotten about the half…"

Doyle clapped a hand over her mouth. "Let's not tell the whole world."

Gunn looked at the place in surprise. "What happened here?"

Willow already knew. "Oh God. Dawn." She sunk into Tara's embrace.

"What about me?" Dawn's voice chirped from the staircase.

"Dawn!" Buffy disentangled herself from Angel without a second glance. "Don't you ever do that again."

"What did I do?" Dawn asked, confused, "Me and Andrew have been listening to music for like two hours. Completely normal and non-violent. It didn't even have one of those advisory stickers on the CD!"

Behind her, Andrew nodded his agreement.

Giles raised an eyebrow. "May I ask what caused this sudden concern for Dawn's well-being."

Willow looked up. "Glory."

"Oh dear lord. Is everyone all right?"

"Little dinged up," muttered Gunn, answering for everyone. "But alive." He slung his arm over his sister's shoulder in an awkward sort of one armed hug.

Wesley had noticed the broken glass on the floor and the broken window. "What happened here?"

"Break in," Cordelia supplied in a voice that implied the 'duh'.

"Did they take anything?" Wesley asked curiously.

Angel glanced around the lobby. "I don't know. I haven't been here in ages."

"W-w-where," Tara stuttered, still slightly nervous about being around so many new faces, "are Xander a-a-and Anya?"

Andrew and Dawn immediately blushed. And after a second, Tara did too. "Oh."

Giles started to polish his glasses, well aware of the fact that they were clean already. "Still. We'd best." He coughed. "Make sure. I believe they're in room 217."

There was a long embarrassed pause before Oz shrugged wordlessly and went back up the stairs. He checked the numbers on the doors as he walked past them, pausing in front of 217. He knocked once. A second later a groggy voice called, "What?"

"It's Oz. You alive?"

"What?"

Oz figured that was good enough and went back to the group. "They're busy."

"I don't get it," Cordelia said aloud. "I mean she told Buffy it wasn't about her. Which means it's about someone else."

"The Fallen," Giles said softly.

"The who now?" Gunn asked.

Giles hadn't been aware he'd spoken aloud and he had to scramble to cover. "It's a part of a prophesy I've been translating. I believe it is of particular relevance to the current situation."

"Oh," said Doyle slowly, "you mean with the dead people walking around and all?"

"What we miss?"a new voice came from the top of the stairs where a very disheveled Xander and Anya stood.

"Glory's back," Willow explained quickly, "and something happened here."

"Ay caramba." Xander whistled.

"But no one's hurt, right?" Dawn asked, a note of panic creeping into her voice, "I mean we're all alive and we're all here. So maybe we can just you know figure out what to do about..."

Oz was studying the room taking inventory of its occupants. Something about the situation wasn't quite right, it quite literally smelled weird. He reluctantly tried to concentrate on the faint smell in the room. His head was spinning slightly with exhaustion and he tried to disentangle Angel's vampyric smell from Doyle's not quite human one and the dozens of human smells. They wolf in him growled, but he expertly kept it down.

Tara smelled like magic.

And under it all, he finally identified the distinct metallic scent of blood.

He checked the room once more wondering how he could have missed it before. "Where's Jesse?"

* * *

Jesse was in fact having the worst night of his existence. And he'd had some pretty bad ones. Including the time he woke up to find his clothes floating in a lake and damn near the entire town of Sunnydale gawking at him. 

He hadn't even opened his eyes and he already had the sinking suspicion that this was much worse. He had the awkward sensation of someone who'd fallen asleep standing upright. Groaning slightly, he tried to move his arms, but there was something tying him down. He strained harder, ignoring the pain as the sharp metal chains chaffed his wrists… oh God he was in chains. The realization almost made him pass out again.

He heard voices from another room and stopped struggling. There was no way he was going to escape and something told him that attracting attention was going to get him in trouble.

Someone touched his face and he shivered involuntarily.

"I know you're awake Jesse," the voice whispered. "I just want to talk with you."

Jesse squeezed his eyes shut, hoping they would just go away.

There was a heavy sigh. "Come on Jesse. I don't like doing this the hard way." Suddenly a hand clapped over his mouth and nose. The shock of it cause his eyes to snap open.

"There we go."

As the world came into focus, Jesse saw who was standing in front of him. She didn't look that much older than him. She was brown haired and blue eyed and just a little mousy looking. He couldn't quite decide what to make of her.

"Jesse McNally," She shook her head. "of all the people who'd died in the past eight years, you're the one who gets a second chance. We've been trying to figure that out ever since you came back. You see, I could guess who was coming back. Most of them were no-brainers, but you, you took me by surprise." She pulled a chair up and sat down in front of him. "And I sit up at night wondering, why you? What makes sixteen year old Jesse McNally more valuable than a slayer, or at least someone who has the slightest idea of what's going on in this world. Wolfram and Hart doesn't even have a file on you." She leaned in closer. "I want to know everything about you. About why you're back, because I think you're more important than you let on?" She grinned and leaned back. "You're going to tell me everything you know. And if you don't cooperate..." she paused, "I'll let the Master get it out of you."

Jesse struggled to keep his eyes focused, but his head throbbed in protest. "I don't know…" He swallowed to sooth his dry scratchy throat. "I don't know anything."

Eve tilted her head to the side. "The hard way it is."

* * *

Oz fell asleep. He'd feel guilty as hell for it later, but his body couldn't take it anymore. After he'd told them about the blood, the whole team had immediately began searching the hotel for Jesse, but Oz knew they were wasting time. He'd gone along with them anyway. There was always a chance that he was wrong. 

He was only searching his second room, but his body just couldn't take it anymore. He practically passed out on the bed.

They say that people reached a point when they were too exhausted to dream. They were wrong.

_Willow lay beside him, humming tunelessly and Oz rolled over to look at her. She continued humming, not even noticing he was there. "Willow," he whispered softly._

_Willow rolled over and blinked sleepily, "Tara is that you?"_

_Oz blinked in mild shock, turned away and got out of bed slowly._

_Someone screamed in the distance and he thought he recognized it as Jesse's scream even though he'd never heard it before. Angel stepped out of the darkness. "You have to stop it. Things are going bad. Can't you see it? You should see it."_

_Over Angel's shoulder, he saw Willow kissing Tara. He tried to concentration what Angel was saying, but he couldn't take his eyes off of them._

_Finally, Angel grabbed him by the shoulders. "You can't trust us, Oz. You can't..."_

_Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Willow's eyes bulge, Tara held her firmly by the neck. Oz pushed past Angel and launched himself at Tara, feeling the familiar changes sweep over him. Her snarled, claws clashing and knock her to the ground, instinctively going for the throat._

_And suddenly it was Vercua he was killing, her blood on his hand, on his face. Shocked, he reverted back to human form and slumped backwards, a million excuses running through his head 'it was the wolf, she was going to kill Willow.'_

_Angel was there again, eyes golden, face distorted, fangs glittering in the dim light. "You don't know true evil."_

_Just for a second he saw Doyle's dead body in front of him, throat marred by the tell-tale mark of a vampire._

_Laughing, Tara appeared in front of him. "Willow's not the one you have to worry about." She held up a glass jar filled with a sort of glittering mist, her face glowed eerily in the light. "You hero types really have to get your act together."

* * *

_

Angel and Doyle walked down the streets in companionable silence. They'd hit all of Angel's current sources and a few of old Doyle's old ones and they'd come out with very little on the whereabouts of Glory or Jesse. Despite the events that had occurred, Angel couldn't help but feel a little bit content. Doyle and Cordelia were alive. If he didn't have an impending apocalypse on his hands, he'd be feeling almost… _lighthearted_.

"So," Doyle's friendly voice broke the silence, "you feel like telling me what exactly happened that got you into Wolfram and Hart?"

"What do you know about Wolfram and Hart?" Angel asked, only mildly surprised.

"Enough," Doyle said shortly. "I used to know some guys involved with them. Couple of 'em just disappeared." He stopped walking. "Jus' between us. What do they have on you?"

Angel blinked.

"'Cause there's somethin' you're not tellin' me." Doyle shoved his hands in the pocket of his borrowed jacket and Angel couldn't help but notice just how wrong he looked without his old beat up leather jacket. Earlier Doyle had admitted that his jacket had been ruined when he'd come back. He didn't offer the details, but Angel had suspected that he hadn't had an easy time in his first moments back. He'd gathered enough information to know that everyone had appeared in the exact same place they'd died. And in Doyle's case that was about twenty feet above a fairly large body of water. "Don't go all broody stoicism guy on me now."

Angel stared at his old friend and took an unnecessary breath and let a name escape his lips. "Connor."

Doyle frowned, playing with the sleeves of his oversized jacket. "Who's Connor?"

"Connor…" Angel was suddenly uncomfortable, not sure if this was something he could share. He hadn't told anyone. No one knew about Connor… No one… but Eve.

The sudden realization strengthened his resolve and he met Doyle's eyes. "Connor is my son."

* * *

Eve entered his room, wiping something red off her hands and onto her shirt. Lindsey closed the door behind her. She nearly jumped out of her skin. "Lindsey! I didn't see you." 

Lindsey had his eyes focused on her hands. "Who's blood is that?" he asked unsteadily, visions of a murdered colleague's blood on his face.

"No one's," Eve said quickly. "I'm just going to go get dressed."

Lindsey caught her by the wrist. "Who's blood is that?" he demanded, "Eve! Tell me!"

She shook him loose. "It's not mine."

She walked out of the room and Lindsey heard the bathroom door slam in the distance. In a daze, he walked into the bedroom and lay down to stare at the ceiling.

_It's not mine_.

He didn't know if he should be relieved or horrified, but either way he was hit with the uneasy revelation that he was no longer in control of the situation. What had started out as a way to get back at Angel and the senior partners had spiraled into something far too big. He just wanted to shake things up a little, get back at Wolfram and Hart for ruining his life.

But now there was blood. Not a lot, but it only took a little for things to get messy. He wasn't even remotely in the loop anymore.

"_And the world will crumble"_

Lindsey had the sickening feeling that he was in over his head.

* * *

"OZ!" Willow was suddenly shaking him. "Oz! What what's wrong! C'mon Oz wake up!" 

Oz was jarred into awareness. "Doyle."

"Doyle?" Willow frowned. "He's with Angel. They're out looking for Jesse."

"No," Oz mumbled, quickly getting off the bed and moving towards the doorway, "he's in trouble. He's going to kill him."

"Who's going to kill him?" Willow asked fearfully, following him out the door.

Oz's stared straight at her, but his face betrayed no emotion. "Angel is."

* * *

"That's some baggage," Doyle said heavily as they made their way down the nearly abandoned street. "You gone to see him?" 

"Once." Angel admitted, "He looked…" He swallowed. "he looked happy."

"You had no other choice, man. You did the right thing." After a long paused, Doyle added, "You know that, right?"

Angel knew, but until that moment, he hadn't known how much he needed to hear it aloud. He looked at his friend and actually smiled. "Thanks…" He stumbled and doubled over as a pain seized his chest.

Doyle put a hand on his shoulder. "Angel man, you okay?"

Angel suddenly realized what was happening and looked up at Doyle with wide eyes. "Run."

"Hey! If something's going wrong, I'm not leavin' you all to yourself. I got some pride you know."

Another wave of pain sent Angel crashing to his knees. "Doyle, dammit, you don't get it. Just run! Get out of here!"

Something about the tone of his voice made Doyle listen and he turned slowly and started to sprint down the street.

Angel looked skywards as his eyes flashed golden and he screamed.

Then the pain subsided and he stood up and took in his surroundings.

And Angelus started to laugh.

* * *

The top floor of the Hyperion was filled with light as the dark energies illuminated the white chalk outline of a pentagram in the middle of the room. A female voice chanted a haunting spell and the candles at the points of the pentagram flickered in an unseen breeze and went out. 

The light in the room began to become more concentrated as it slowly condensed into a jar at in front of the spellcaster.

She spoke the last worlds of the spell and quickly put the lid on the jar.

The room was completely dark now save the flickering light imprisoned in the jar, the spellcaster grabbed it and surveyed her works, face illuminated by the light of Angel's soul.

Tara smiled to herself as she began to clean up the supplies. They didn't suspect a thing.

* * *

_You have reached the end of chapter 9. _


	10. Chains

I realize I've been absent for quite a long while, but I have very good excuses for that. But I also realize that you don't want to hear them (even though I think you'd like to know that the last scene of this is already written), so I'll go ahead and skip that part. Thanks to everyone who's still reading and especially to those who are reviewing as well.

_Disclaimer and story info on chapter 1_

_CHAPTER SPECIFIC WARNING- This chapter has a few torture scenes in it. Most are implied, but they are here.

* * *

_

**_Ten- Chains_**

Jesse was going to die. He had realized it with perfect clarity the second the Master had entered the room. Until that moment he hadn't quite figured it out, but the second he saw the deathly white face with contorted features and the permanently bloodstained lips, he knew. He was going to die.

Funny thing is, even knowing that he'd died before, he'd had the notion in his head that he was invincible. He was sixteen. Sixteen year olds don't die while being tortured by some sadistic villain bent on world destruction. They died in car accidents, they died from alcohol binges. They weren't murdered.

Except for him.

The longer he was in the presence of the Master the more clearly he remembered. He could almost feel the blood draining from his throat.

He'd died before and he was going to die again.

It was a concept of mortality that no sixteen year old should ever have.

The Master examined his long finger nails and paced in front of him. "You're stronger then I suspected. I thought you were nothing before, but I underestimated you."

Jesse couldn't seem to move, but every inch of him seemed like it was on fire. The Master ran a cold finger down his cheek and Jesse shivered, feeling chilled to the core.

"You could have been a great vampire." His long fingers curled as he let go of Jesse's face. "It's a pity."

"Get it over with," Jesse dared. "Kill me."

The smile that spread across the ancient vampire's face was the scariest thing Jesse had ever seen. "But the fun's only just beginning. You're mine, Jesse."

Something cold and sharp plunged into his side and a scream tore through the still air.

Sitting outside the closed door, Eve smiled in satisfaction.

* * *

Something was chasing him. Doyle wasn't aware of anything else. He was running and something was chasing. After that instinct had taken over. Say what you would about his actual fighting ability, Doyle knew the streets. He knew every back alley and street corner and he was good at avoiding tails. He had to be. It was what kept him alive. 

He couldn't get the picture of Angel doubled up on the street out of his head. His frantic words would echo in head for a long time. And even though Angel clearly wanted him far away, he knew he was unconsciously doubling back trying to get back to him.

But in the distant reaches of his mind, he was starting to understand.

His immediate conscious refused to accept the idea.

He rounded a corner, seeing the ruined remains of the old Angel Investigations whiz by on his right. On autopilot, he turned left sharply, darting down a familiar alley.

There was a brick wall where an old chain linked fence had used to be.

_Wrong alley_.

But he knew it couldn't have been the wrong one, he'd used this short cut hundreds of times.

A voice in his head whispered, _'four years.'_

He cursed himself. He'd been dead for four years and the city had gone and changed on him.

A dark shadow swept across the alley and Doyle turned around slowly, dreading the inevitable.

But it was only Angel that stood in front of him, smiling, his leather jacket flaring out behind him. Ridiculously, the picture of 'the Dark Avenger' came to his mind.

"Angel," Doyle had to fight to keep his voice from quaking. His hands quaked uncontrollably.

Angel didn't answer, he just stood there grinning like a maniac. Angel never smiled like that. Ever.

Doyle felt his insides turn to ice as Angel's brown eyes changed, became golden. "Angel man this isn't you."

Shadows played across his face, light and dark, light and dark.

"Angel," he scoffed, "Angel's a mask they force me into. A way to control me. Subdue me." He laughed and for the first time in his life, Doyle was genuinely afraid of his friend. "Angel doesn't really exist. It's only ever been me."

Doyle stumbled backwards. "Is that what you tell yerself?"

_He's not Angel. He's not Angel._ He had to believe that.

"Even night, your friend _Angel_," said the vampire slowly, relishing every word, "used to dream about killing you."

Doyle froze.

"You didn't know that did you? You didn't know about how he wanted to snap your little half-breed neck."

"Wouldn't help," Doyle choked. "And Angel would never…"

"You don't know the first thing about me." Angel took a step forward, eyes glowing with a demonic light. "I've always wondered how half demons tasted."

Doyle had the vague notion that the only way he would survive this was to get him talking and keep him talking. He wondered how long it was until dawn, an hour? Two? He always lost track. He no longer had any watches to wear.

He hoped Jesse was still alive. He hoped the others wouldn't find two dead bodies in the morning.

"And Angel felt so _guilty_ when you died," his voice was positively gleeful, "and I could start to break in little by little. It took years, but by the time he took over Wolfram and Hart I was in just as much control as he was. Angel was starting to give up."

"Angel's a hero," Doyle said with confidence.

"Angel," he sneered, "even the Powers That Be gave up on Angel. He's a lost cause."

Doyle didn't want to believe it, but he knew that there was at a least a grain of truth there. He'd seen the flickers of darkness in Angel's eyes, when he talked about Connor, when he looked at him or Cordelia…

"In the end I'm always going to be the one on top."

Doyle suddenly realized he had surprise on his side. He could slip into his demon form, take a quick hit at him and go…

Go where? He wasn't a human. The invite rule didn't apply to him, not that it mattered. He didn't have a real home anymore.

He tensed, preparing to try anyway.

Angel looked at him coolly, reading his thoughts. "Don't even think about it."

Ignoring him, Doyle slipped smoothly into demon form and launched himself at the vampire.

Angel easily deflected his first blow and Doyle only barely managed to dodge the retaliation. He dropped to his knees, attempting to kick Angel's legs out from under him. Angel easily jumped over him, delivering a hard kick to his head. Doyle reeled backwards, his face morphing back to human in shock.

Angel approached him and pulled him up by the collar. "You don't get it do you," Angel hissed, "I'm in charge here."

"Angel," Doyle pleaded.

"Name's Angelus." He threw Doyle into the wall.

Doyle tried to push himself up, but his legs gave out. Angelus advanced slowly, relishing every moment.

"Freeze!"a voice came from the alleyway.

Doyle lifted his head a fraction of an inch to see that help had arrived.

Oz and Willow stood in the mouth of the alley. Willow with her mouth hanging open slightly and Oz with his face blank and a cross bow in his hand.

Angelus snorted. "This, _this_ is the Calvary. The wolf and the witch."

Oz's trigger finger tensed.

Angelus shook his head. "I'll catch you later." He jumped up onto the top of the building as the bolt from Oz's crossbow shot through the air right where he had been standing.

Angelus's laughter trailed down to them. "This is going to be fun."

And then he was gone

Doyle pushed himself up to his knees as Willow and Oz rushed over to help, supporting him on either side.

"What happened?"

"I dunno." Doyle choked, voice slurring. "We were jus' talkin' and he tol' me to run an'." He looked at Oz. "That wasn't him."

"We've got to get back to the hotel," Willow said, frantically. "Tell Giles. Find Buffy."

"That wasn't him," but Doyle's voice cracked because he knew it really was.

* * *

"Gotta admit kid, I'm impressed." Glory paced the room, studying Jesse with uncanny intensity. "I've never seen anyone last this long before." She studied a perfectly manicured hand. "No one human at least." She walked towards Jesse who hung limp in the chains, a trail of red running down his chin. "She wants to know what your purpose is. Apparently you've got some sort of destiny. Now I'd rather just kill ya." She grabbed Jesse by the head and turned it sideways so that a bite mark was clearly visible on his pale neck. "But I think the vampire's got dibs." She gave him a feral grin. "Not that that matters much to me." 

Jesse coughed violently, more blood spewing out from his mouth. He head lolling listlessly against his chest.

Glory tilted his chin up so she could look him in the eyes. "Listen Jesse boy, why don't you just make it easy on the both of us. Tell me what I need to know and I can put you out of your misery and get on with something that matters."

Jesse looked at her with dull unfocused eyes. "I don't know…" Tears started slipping down his cheeks and he was too tired and hurt to care. "I don't know anything," he hiccupped. "I never asked for this. I never asked to be here." The tears wouldn't stop. "I don't know anything. I've _never_ known anything about this."

Glory's expression changed, softened almost and then there was someone else standing in her place. Jesse stopped talking abruptly, tears drying on his bloodied cheeks. There was a man standing in front of him wearing a tight fitting red dress.

For some reason the sight of the man made Jesse lose the last bit of control he had and sent him dissolving into fits of hysterical laughter.

Disoriented Ben looked around, eyes widening for just a split second, reaching towards Jesse as if to help, but a second later, Glory was back in control.

Glory put a hand on her head to steady herself. "Stay put already Ben."

Jesse lifted his head, laughter fading along with the memory of the man, of the change. "What just…"

A sharp uppercut sent him spiraling into the darkness

* * *

Fred hovered over her computer, reading the results of the medical examinations for what seemed like the hundredth time. 

"Fred?"

She nearly jumped out of her skin. "Cordelia!"

Cordelia smiled at her and Fred had to keep reminding herself that Cordelia wasn't merely a ghost. That she was back.

_Maybe things are starting to right themselves_.

"So what did you want?" Cordelia asked, looking around the lab. "No offense, but I'm not looking to hang around Wolfram and Hart more than I have to."

"Oh! Yeah." Fred rolled up the sleeves of her lab coat. "It's really great to have you back Cordy. I feel like we should go see a movie or something, but with the apocalypse and all…"

"Fred!"

"Right," Fred said without missing a beat. "There were some anomalies in your blood work." She pulled two packets of paper from the stack. "You said that Skip made you a half-demon so that you could handle the visions?"

"Yeah," Cordelia said distantly, "it was either that or have my skull blown out."

"Well," Fred sputtered, taking one packet and pointing to a complex series of readouts, "these are Doyle's results." She glance up. "Doyle's a half demon, right? Brachen?"

"Right," Cordelia confirmed.

"You can tell that he's part demon because it comes out in his genetics here." She indicated the spot. "But your readouts are far more similar to Jesse or Alonna's."

"Meaning..."

"You're not part demon," Fred said slowly, "at least not as far as I can tell."

Cordelia froze. "Something's wrong then."

"But it's here," Fred said, "plain as day, human with no real magical ability, but here's the interesting part." She flipped to a different page. "Sometime before you died, you were given a massive dose of what seems to be pure power. Pretty heavy stuff. Didn't do.. well anything to your genetics." Fred looked up, completely unaware of the effect her speech was having on Cordelia. "In order for that, you would have had to have been a vampire or a werewolf. There's no other way for you to just become part demon."

The color had rapidly drained from Cordelia's face and when she finally found her voice, it was shaking, "Then what did Skip do to me?"

Fred scrunched up her nose. "Best I can tell. He gave you the power whammy so he could control you a little and when the time was right…"

"Kill me," Cordelia finished, face falling.

"I think so," Fred said softly. "I'm sorry, Cordy."

"Oh, that son of a bitch is going to pay."

"He already has," Fred added, not sure if this would comfort Cordelia or make her madder. "Angel killed him."

"Figures," Cordelia muttered. "Mr. Hero."

There was a knock on the door and Lorne's green head leaned it. "Ladies, am I interrupting anything."

Fred glanced at Cordelia for a split second before saying, "Nothing that can't wait."

Lorne entered the room and Fred couldn't help but notice that he was carrying a full bag over his shoulder.

"You going somewhere?" Cordelia asked.

"'Fraid so sweetcheeks," Lorne said with a sad smile. "As much fun as it is hanging out with you hero types, I'm not looking for an apocalypse, and from what I saw in that Anya's head, this is worse than most of them." He laughed dryly. "Besides Madonna's got a gig in Malibu and I've been a invited for the ride." His falsely merry tones became regretful, "I'm just not cut out for this stuff anymore. I just wanted to say goodbye to my favorite girls." He hugged them each in turn. "Say so long to everyone."

And he walked out the door without a second glance.

* * *

There were some things that only alcohol could help. Your best friend turning into a murderous psychopath in front of you was definitely one of them. Doyle had been sitting on the same barstool for at least an hour. It was one of those silent bars, where people sat alone to waste away in their sorrows. Only the occasional murmur of 'keep 'em coming' was heard. 

Someone slid into the seat next to him and ordered a shot of whiskey.

Doyle froze, recognizing the voice. He turned his head very slowly to his right and caught the barest glimpse of platinum blonde hair….

To his horror, Spike glanced over at him, lifted up a glass and mumbled, "Cheers mate."

At this point he was sure his life could not get any worse.

Not knowing what else to do, Doyle raised his own glass and said, "Cheers."

The glasses clanked and Spike downed his in one swallow before ordering a second shot almost immediately. He then turned to Doyle. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"_He is still alive I think. In one piece was never part of the deal."_

Doyle swallowed. "Couldn't say."

Spike kept staring at him, finally saying, "You're the Mick. You worked for Angel way back when."

Doyle didn't meet his eyes. "You know Angel?"

* * *

Angelus paused and looked to either side of the dark alley. He tilted his head up slightly. "Okay I'm had enough of this shadowing crap. Come out and say hello." 

"You're good,"a female voice answered him.

Angelus didn't turn around. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you."

Eve smiled charmingly. "I have a proposition for you."

Angelusspun around, slowly, menacingly. "You. You're that liaison for the senior partners."

"Eve, at your service."

Angelus regarded her coolly. "And why am I here listening to you?"

"Because we set you free." Eve's blue eyes glinted. "And we could turn you back just as fast," she paused. "We have a job for you."

Angelus's eyes narrowed, but Eve kept right on smiling. "What could you possibly need me for?"

Eve's smiled stretched even wider. "We're going to destroy the world."

* * *

"This is stupid," Anya groused. "He's probably dead already. I don't see why we're even bothering." 

"Ahn," Xander chastised, "don't talk like that."

"It's not like he has much of a chance if Glory took him," Anya said brashly. "Besides he's dead already. Died years ago and that's how its supposed to be. I don't like dead people wondering around. Way too close to zombies."

"Anya. Whatever brought Jesse back brought you back too." Xander scanned the unfamiliar streets. "I hate to say this, but I wish we were back in Sunnydale. At least I knew that town."

His eyes flickered to the alley on his side and he saw…

"…isn't that Angel?" Anya asked curiously. "Let's see if he's found something."

Xander clapped a hand over Anya's mouth and pulled her out of sight, his brain on overload. Angel had been talking to a female someone, he'd only seen her back…

The female's voice floated to his ears. "…we set you free, and we could turn you back just as fast. We have a job for you."

Anya stopped fighting his grip and he removed his hand. "What could you possibly need me for?"

"Where's Doyle?" Anya whispered, breathing raggedly.

"We're going to destroy the world." He could hear the smile in the voice's words.

"Where do we start?" Xander had heard that sort of malice in Angel's voice before, but the last time had been years ago. He froze in realization.

This wasn't Angel.

"Follow me."

Xander pulled Anya down and back out of sight as two shadows crossed in front of them.

"We've got to follow them." Xander hissed into Anya's ear.

"What! Are you insane?"

"Sun's going to rise soon," Xander explained. "If we know where he is, we'll have half a chance."

* * *

"S'not like I knew what I was getting' into." Spike had become more and more garrulous as he drank. "They shove a soul at me an' the next thing I know, I've got this uncontrollable urge to play the hero. And that only earns me a month long stint as bloody Casper. Now I'm got some wanker telling me I've got a destiny." 

Doyle nodded sympathetically, only vaguely aware that he was sitting here having drinks with one of his (former?) mortal enemies.

"What's worse is he says he's got these visions things tha' show him people that need help and I have to save them."

"Visions," Doyle repeated distantly, "of people that need help?"

Spike didn't seem to have heard him. "Doesn't anyone just get to die and call it quits?"

"In my experience, no," Doyle said. "Once the powers get their hooks into you…"

"And the worst of it is I want to help. I keep waiting for Doyle to show up so I can…"

"Hold on," Doyle interrupted, fingering his glass. "Doyle?"

* * *

Blood dripped from Jesse's slightly open mouth and he swayed a little in his chains, surveying the room with half open eyes. It was still dark outside and prayed that this whole thing was just a nightmare, even though he was sure that he was awake. 

They'd find him. They had to.

The heavy door creaked open and Jesse tried to focus on his latest visitor. Tall, dark coat, dark brown hair.

Sweet warm relief washed over him. "Angel!" He croaked, blood dripping onto his chin.

Angel approached him slowly.

"You've got to get me out of these chains," Jesse said frantically, fighting to keep from passing out again. "They'll be back soon."

Angel didn't move.

"Come on man!" Jesse protested, the relief quickly fading as he realized that something was seriously wrong."They'll be back soon!"

There was a mild crunching noise as Angel's features changed into its vampyric mask.

Jesse looked like he could have started crying. "Oh God."

And a cold smile crept slowly across Angel's face.

* * *

_I know, I know. I managed another chapter where stuff happened without anything really major happening and I bet you'll all probably wondering what's up with Tara… but that's a tale for another chapter. Besides, Angelus had to have his chapter. It's like a requirement._

_Reviews would be very much of the good._


	11. Lines

_A quick warning before the chapter—As of right now, this chapter is un-betaed. My beta is on vacation in Ireland so I'm on my own for a bit. I went over this a couple times extra, so I think its fairly clean, but I have major problems catching my own typos. I'll eventually get the betaed version up, but that'll take a while. Just a little heads up._

_**9-6-05 New and improved! With beta!**_

_Story info and disclaimer on Chapter 1._

_**Eleven- Lines **_

Anya wobbled on top of Xander's shoulders. "Hold still already."

Xander winced as Anya shifted her weight, making one of his shoulders pop in the process. I'm not exactly on stable ground here."

He was standing on top of a dumpster in the middle of some abandoned alleyway, attempting to get a look into the second story window.

"Alright," Anya said suddenly, "I've got it!"

Instinctively Xander jerked his head upwards and the sudden motion nearly sent Anya falling.

"Stop moving!" Anya hissed.

"Sorry," Xander muttered. "What do you see?"

"Angel's there," Anya reported, "and so is someone else." She stood on her toes, crunching Xander's back in the process. "They're chained up."

"Who is it?" Xander asked, his voice quaking as his stomach clenched uncomfortably. "Can you see?"

His legs collapsed underneath him and Anya swayed almost comically before crashing down on top of him.

Anya pushed herself up, brushed herself off and slid down off the edge of the dumpster. "That was uncalled for."

"Well, I didn't do it on purpose." Xander retorted angrily, before almost immediately refocusing. "Did you see who it was?"

Anya didn't quite meet his eyes and Xander's suspicions were confirmed.

_He never asked for any of this, _Xander thought bitterly, _just wakes up in a ghost town and is plunged into _this

"Jesse," he said aloud and he didn't even need to see Anya's nod of confirmation to know it was true.

XXXXX

A white faced Willow entered the Hyperion followed closely by a carefully stone-faced Oz. "We need to do something," Willow babbled, "I don't know. The spell? How did it happen? Oh God. We need to find Giles. Or Buffy!"

"What about me?" Buffy asked flippantly from the door.

Willow squeaked and turned around. "Buffy!"

Kate who had entered the room only a step behind said. "No sign of him. Nothing. Practically the whole town's asleep." She closed the door and looked up. "You guys have any luck."

"None." Oz said.

"Angel!" Willow squawked.

Kate's eyes narrowed. "Yeah. Where is he? It's almost dawn. Don't vampires fry?"

Willow seemed to have lost her voice.

"He's not Angel anymore." Oz told them quietly.

Kate's eyes crinkled in confusion, but Buffy had gone deathly pale. "He's…"

"His soul." Willow attempted to explain. "When we caught up to him. He had Doyle cornered."

"Doyle's…" The implication weighed heavily in Kate's voice.

"Fine," Willow said quickly.

Oz gave a half grin. "He said he needed a drink."

"In case you guys haven't realized it," snapped Buffy, put off by their lightheartedness, "this situation suddenly got a whole lot more hairy."

"Calm down Buffy," Willow said, regaining some of the confidence that Angelus had rattled away. "I've done the spell before. I can do it again."

Oz quickly excused himself to go find Giles and Kate followed him up the stairs and into the hallway before tapping him on the shoulder. "I want to know what's happening here Oz. And in all honesty, you're the only one here I trust."

"Angel's soul," Oz explained shortly, "it's gone."

"What do you mean gone?" Kate asked suspiciously. "Souls don't just disappear."

"Angel's can," Oz replied, mildly surprised that she hadn't heard the whole story.

"How do you know? How can you be sure?"

"Because I saw it."

"And you didn't stop it," a note of hysteria had crept into Kate's voice. "You saw it and you didn't stop it!"

Oz didn't reply.

"Are there any other things you're not telling us, Oz? Did you see us all dying." Kate's voice dropped, venom leaving it. "I'm sorry. That's not fair. You would have done something if you'd known."

Tara's form flashed in front of Oz's eyes, but he shook it away. "We've got to get Giles."

XXXXX

"This is ridiculous." Jenny Calendar said, slamming another book shut. "There are references to the book in all of these but it's just the same line over and over. The Prophesies of G'hisnakau, thought lost through the ages, are disturbingly accurate, blah, blah, blah."

Wesley closed his own book with a sigh. "I'm afraid you're right. We have nothing to base our interpretations. We're on our own."

Giles sighed and stared at the freshly translated prophecy. They'd been doing little else since they'd got here.

Ms. Calendar rubbed at her eyes. " 'the fallen'… 'Seven forgotten souls'. That has to be us." She ticked of fingers as she continued, "Jesse, Doyle, Corldelia, Anya, Alonna, Tara and me." She swallowed. "Seven. We've got our seven."

"And the time of imbalance," Wesley said looking pointedly at Giles, "can be attributed to the slayer spell."

"Which," Mrs. Calendar added, "has been reversed."

"'Balance restored,'" muttered Wesley and by unspoken agreement, they all read the words again in silence.

"The blood sacrifice," Wesley said suddenly, "a man named Lloyd Reylord reportedly mentioned something of that nature before killing himself and another."

Silence again.

"What I don't like," Ms. Calendar said abruptly, "is the part about evil's champions. Champions. As in more than one. Like Glory isn't enough to worry about."

As if on cue, the door opened and Oz stepped into the room, Kate only a half step behind him.

Giles stood up. "What's the matter? Has something happened?"

Oz's dark eyes focused on Jenny Calendar. "It's Angel."

Ms. Calendar's eyes widened slightly and she asked, "What about Angel?"

"It's gone."

Wesley took a step towards him. "What's gone?"

Oz didn't have to answer. They already knew.

XXXXX

"I'm just saying Angel doesn't just go berserk for no reason. Something tripped it."

"Well that doesn't mean we should be blaming each other. It could have been anything."

"There was no blaming anyone! It's just me stating facts. We were all out in pairs except her. And Angel doesn't just lose his soul on his own."

"Well, yeah, but blaming Tara isn't fair!"

Oz and Kate reentered the lobby to the Hyperion to a full fledged screaming match. Gunn and Willow stood on opposite sides, faces red from screaming. Tara stood uncomfortably to the side, face twisted with worry. "I-I-I was t-tr-trying a l-locater spell."

"Magic," Gunn scoffed, "it was probably magic that got us into this mess in the first place."

"She was trying to help!" Willow protested as Tara shyly reached out to touch her hand.

Oz absently noticed Doyle perched on the arm of the couch and he wondered if anyone had even taken notice of the Irishman's arrival.

"Magic never helped anything!" Gunn snapped back.

"Right now," Giles said, coming down behind Oz, "magic may be the only way to remedy the situation and get Angel back. Willow, I believe I have a majority of the ingredients the resouling spell requires, if we can procure an orb of Thessula, do you think that you and Tara might perform the spell?"

"I'll give them a hand," Ms. Calendar volunteered. "If I'm getting it right the spell needs three people to perform."

"I'll bet spells are what got us into this mess to start with," Gunn said crossly.

Alonna cuffed him in the back of the head. "Give it a rest Charles."

"Not to break the mood or anything," Doyle cut in smoothly, though his voice was slightly slurred, "but we've still got a missing kid who's not getting any safer."

No one was looking at him. As a matter of fact, no one even heard him, all of the room were staring at the new arrival in the doorway.

Spike awkwardly shifted avoiding everyone's eyes. He mumbled, "It was almost sunrise. Not looking for another stint as a bloody ghost."

Dawn's mouth dropped in shock. "Spike?"

Andrew echoed her only a second later, "_Spike?_"

Buffy stood up and took two long strides across the room before stopping right in front of Spike. "You were dead," she whispered in a daze.

Spike smirked. "I got better."

Buffy slugged him hard in the face.

XXXXX

Lindsey didn't think he could take it anymore. He didn't like being left in the dark. Especially when most of what was going on was supposed to be _his_ idea.

Spike hadn't been in his apartment when he'd gone to check up on him.

That bothered Lindsey.

Especially considering that Spike himself was essentially the plan. Unleash him on Angel, play with their heads a bit and then… Lindsey hadn't planned father than that. He hadn't ever really intended to hurt him. Just scare him a little.

Everyone had lines, lines that they just couldn't cross. Levels they wouldn't, no, couldn't sink to. These lines define you. These lines had to be drawn. He hadn't been able to doom the three psychic children four years ago. It just hadn't been in him.

Line number two had jumped up at him today as he heard the screams of the boy in the room over.

He didn't even know the kid's name. He didn't know why he had to be tortured. He didn't know anything anymore, but the screams of torment had been enough to push him into a choice.

When Eve walked by in the hallway, smiling a smug smile that he had only recently come to despise, he took a deep breath, stood up and approached her.

"Lindsey," her voice was sugar-coated with false innocence, "I didn't know you were here."

Something in her voice told him he wasn't supposed to be here, but that didn't matter anymore. He was sick of being a pawn. That was, after all, why he'd walked out of Wolfram and Hart. He wanted to have power over his own life.

That's what it was about—power. Control. Having some say in what happened to him.

He'd lost that again.

"Eve." He placed his hand on the wall, his arm effectively blocking any movement. "You're going to tell me exactly what's going on. I deserve to know."

After pulling him back into the spare room, Eve began to explain everything. From Lloyd Reylord's blood sacrifice to the resurrections to the ultimate ending—the end of the world. Evil's four champions who would bring it to pass. She kept talking long after the screams coming from the next room had ceased. But as she talked, Lindsey began to spot the omissions. There were no mention of the identities of the resurrected, evil or otherwise though Lindsey could guess that the boy in the room next to them was involved.

And the more she talked about the end of the world, the more Lindsey realized that he wanted no part in it. The more he realized that he liked the world. If it was gone, well, he'd just be dooming himself as well.

He listened to her talk and the more he heard, the less he liked.

And in his head, he drew another line.

XXXXX

"You've been back for months," Buffy hissed venomously, "And you didn't bother to pick up the phone and call. We thought you were dead!"

Spike stood in front of her, taking her screams with relative ease. "Buffy," he tried to explain, "I…"

"Didn't think we were worth it did you?" Buffy snapped, and then more quietly said, "Me and Dawn, we missed you."

There was an uncomfortable silence and the rest of the group felt like they had invaded a private moment.

Fortunately, Xander and Anya picked this moment to make their entrance as they burst through the doors, both breathing heavily.

Kate looked at them, happy for the distraction. "What happened to you two?"

Xander's face shone unnaturally pale in the dim light of dawn. "We found Jesse."

XXXXX

Lindsey had left the building with Eve, still attempting to process the immensity of the mess he'd landed himself in. They had barely gone four blocks before, Eve had excused herself to report to Wolfram and Hart, leaving Lindsey alone.

A vague plan had begun to take shape in his mind and before he could talk himself out of it, he doubled back. The sun had just risen and the streets had only just begun to fill with traffic. It was all so painfully normal.

And tomorrow night, the world was going to end.

Unless, of course, Lindsey could stop it.

XXXXX

Jesse regained consciousness slowly, unwillingly.

His whole body throbbed violently and he still tasted the metallic tang of blood in his mouth. He wondered absently how vampires could stand the taste of it.

Angel had left when the sun came up. The light from the tiny window had spilled soft sunlight into the small room. It was the last thing he had realized before he sank into blissful darkness.

Now the light hurt his eyes despite the fact that he hadn't been able to open them yet. He was fairly sure that his left eye was swollen shut.

A shadow flashed across his closed eyelids and he couldn't help but let out a soft moan.

A warm hand clamped over his mouth and he fought the sudden urge to bite it.

A voice floated to his ears. "This is going to be hard enough without your groaning."

Jesse forced his eyes open and tried to ask who the man was, but his voice was muffled. The hand was removed.

"Who are you?"

The corners of Lindsey's mouth twitched upwards. "Your new best friend."

XXXXX

"Where is he?" Buffy asked, easily slipping into command mode.

Xander collapsed onto the couch shaking his head. "A building downtown. We could get you there." He lapsed into silence, staring at his feet.

"He looked like he'd gone ten rounds with Olaf the Troll," Anya put in, not at all helpfully. "Then again, with Angel doing it."

Buffy tore her eyes from Spike. "Angel's…"

"Angel's torturing him alright!" Xander exploded, pale face shifting quickly to a bright red. He took a quick breath to calm himself and turned to Buffy. "This is all your fault.."

"Wait, this is my fault now?"

"This wouldn't have happened if you had just killed him!"

"In case you haven't forgotten, Xander," Buffy roared, "I did kill him!"

Anya looked at her sideways. "Well you obviously didn't do it right."

Buffy ignored her. "And in case you forgot, I seem to remember a little bit of help. 'Kick his ass?'"

"That was years ago. Ancient history. This is now and the fact is, Angel needs to die."

"For once," Spike put in, "I agree with the whelp."

In unison, Xander and Buffy said, "Shut up Spike."

Doyle jumped down from his perch and positioned himself between Buffy and Xander. His words were still slightly slurred from his earlier binge, but he seemed to be sobering quickly. "Nobody's killing anyone now."

Buffy made a point of turning away from Xander. "Tara," she asked tiredly, "do you think you can get an orb of Thessula?"

"O-o-of course." She glanced around nervously. "I think I'll go now."

Willow made a move to follow her out but Buffy put a hand on her shoulder. "Will, you've got to get the spell ready."

"Yeah Buffy," Willow said, "but shouldn't someone go with her," she trailed off, and Buffy remembered the last time Tara had wondered off alone. Glory had…

"Someone should tell Cordy," Doyle said shakily, "she needs to be in the know."

Gunn nodded quickly, "I'll call Fred. I think they're both at Wolfram and Hart."

Andrew looked out the window. "I don't think you could follow Tara if you wanted to. She's long gone."

XXXXX

"I dislike face to face meetings."

"Trust me, this one is completely necessary."

"What, is so completely necessary that you needed to meet in person."

"Lindsey."

"Has he made his move?"

"Wait, you knew what he was going to do?"

"This is a thousand years in the making, how did you doubt that we hadn't planned every single step. You did remember to take the blood?"

"Of course."

"And the boy."

"Clueless."

"Then the world will end tomorrow."

There was a small squeak and slowly, the two figures turned to see that the shopkeeper had entered from the back room only to hear the majority of their conversation. A mere three seconds later, her blood splattered the walls and her body was left cooling behind the counter.

And Eve's slim form stood over her frowning. "We should go, we can't afford to be caught."

Tara silently stepped over the shopkeeper's corpse and took an orb of Thessula off of the nearby shelf, and examining it thoughtfully. "If all goes according to plan, we'll be unstoppable."

* * *

_Wow. I just realized how close this was to being finished. There are two or three more chapters and an epilogue to go. Right now, I'm leaning towards two more chapters, but knowing me, it'll stretch. _

_I actually wrote the epilogue a few weeks ago (I like to know the exact ending ahead of time) and it doesn't look like much'll be changing…_

_Thanks to those who take time to review. I love hearing the comments._


	12. The Problem with Magic

_Story info and disclaimer on chapter 1. _

**_Twelve- The Problem with Magic_**

Buffy drew herself up tall, secretly wishing as she always did, that she could grab a stool to stand on. Something so that she wouldn't have to looked up at all of her friends. Angel's friends being there didn't help either. They seemed like they were all giants.

"We should go as soon as possible," Buffy said, warily eyeing the group. "The sooner we get Jesse out the better." Her eyes flickered towards Spike. "I say we go at noon. It's when they'll least prepared."

"If we go in the day," Spike said softly, "I'm out of the game."

And she knew he was one of the best fighters here, regardless of how good Angel's crew was. Was she willing to take him out of the fight just to have the element of surprise?

Yes, she realized with a slight twinge of guilt, she was.

Turning to Angel's gang, she surveyed them each in turn. Gunn could clearly handle himself and she strongly suspected his sister could as well. She knew from Willow that Wesley was capable. She knew that before he was killed, Doyle and Cordelia had been Angel's backup and although she didn't look it, she assumed Fred could hold her own. Kate seemed to be everyone's unknown quantity, but Oz trusted her and that was enough.

"I'm going to need everyone. It's going to be dangerous and we just might run into Angel when we're there so you have to be prepared for whatever may…."

The doors to the hotel opened suddenly and light flooded the lobby sending Spike scrambling back into the shadows. The rest of the group squinted into the harsh light as the outlines of two figures began to take shape, the former almost dragging the later behind him. As the two shapes came into focus, Buffy saw that the one standing on his own power was blue eyes and dark haired with a intricate pattern of tattoos snaking up his arm, but the second was the one who was in trouble.

His face was a mess of bruises and blood, his eyes almost swollen shut, feet dragging with each assisted step. He would have been completely unrecognizable if it hadn't been for Xander who was staring in opened mouth shock. "Jesse!"

He was at his side in a flash, hooking Jesse's free hand over his neck so he could help support his friend's limp body. The man on his other shoulder gave him a brief grunt of thanks.

Cordelia stood up suddenly. "_Lindsey?_"

Together with Xander, he helped put Jesse on the couch before turning to address the group. "I need your help."

* * *

It ended with Kate interrogating Lindsey. Cordelia could see a few raised eyebrows over that, but to her it seemed completely natural. Kate was a professional. She was good at this sort of stuff and Lindsey was more than willing to talk. Giles and Wesley were in the room as well. She guessed it was so the supernatural experts could get an angle on it. 

Gunn was muttering something about 'born again lawyer boy' and saying that they'd done this before. Cordelia was inclined to agree with him. Especially since Spike seemed to know Lindsey as Doyle.

Everything seemed like it was at a standstill and Cordelia could almost call it the calm.

It was suspended animation. There were seven people in this room who were supposed to be dead. But they weren't. They were relics, well-preserved, but out of time. It was funny really. Seven years ago, Cordelia Chase was the stuck up ice queen of Sunnydale High.

Now she was sitting next to her dead half-demon best friend who her other best friend had tried to kill a few hours ago. And in about a day and a half, she was going to help save the world.

Funny how things changed.

Even stranger was the fact that this somehow seemed more natural.

Jesse's ragged breathing broke her from her thoughts and she glared at Xander and Willow. "Shouldn't we get him to a hospital or something? He'll bleed all over the couch."

"It looks like most of the bleeding stopped a while ago," Willow babbled cluelessly, "and I think I can speed up most of the healing."

"Yeah, but a hospital might help," Cordelia pressed. "I though magic wasn't supposed to mix with medical."

"We can't take him to the hospital," Xander explained hopelessly. "How would we explain it? He's dead."

The finality of the words tore at Cordelia as if all of a sudden the whole thing was real to her. The kid lying on the couch was the same one who'd asked her out every day starting in fifth grade managing to always be shaking with nervousness on every single instance and now they couldn't even take him to a hospital because he'd been dead since tenth grade. They wouldn't be able to take her in either... or Doyle or Alonna or any of the others as far as the world was concerned, they were dead and they always would be. And somehow, that was how it was supposed to be.

* * *

"It's called the Rite of Blood," Lindsey told Kate quietly. "I'm not sure what it does, but I know it's bad. Apocalypse bad." 

Kate leaned back in her chair half wishing that she was in the old police station and Lindsey was at one of those small tables preferably in handcuffs.

But this was supposed to be a friendly meeting. So that meant no physical violence no screaming, no mention of how Wolfram and Hart had always butted in of her investigations. No…

Control. She swallowed she needed control of this situation.

Lindsey wore the smirk of bad guys who'd just realized they were getting off easy. "That it?"

"Do you have any idea of what the ritual involves."

"Blood," Lindsey replied immediately, "sacrifice, and from what she said, it's already started."

From somewhere behind her, Giles asked, "Do you know anything about a group called the fallen?"

"The fallen?" Lindsey repeated. "They're supposed to be dead but they're not anymore are they? Seven of your dead friends alive and kicking."

"Do you know who they are?" Kate pressed though she didn't need the answers. Even if Giles hadn't mentioned the fallen to her, their identities were easy enough to guess.

"The boy who was being tortured, for one," Lindsey said and after a moment's hesitation he admitted, "she wouldn't give me any names."

"Anything else?" Wesley asked, pencil tapping on his notepad.

"The Fallen aren't what we have to worry about," Lindsey said tersely and Kate noticed that he seemed to think that this was his problem as well. "It's the others. Her side. She said there were four of them, but I don't know who. They're going to do it if we don't stop them."

"When?" Kate felt a frantic energy rising in her at the mention of the end of the world.

"Tomorrow."

* * *

"I've got it," Tara said as she entered the Hyperion. 

Willow immediately stood up. "Let's do this soon."

Ms. Calendar took her cue and said, "I've got everything set up in room 222. But I don't have the translation."

Willow glanced at Xander. "I've got it here." She held up a familiar yellow disk. "Giles gave it to me before he went to talk to Lindsey."

"He still has it? I thought he'd of made a hard copy and ditched it. Technophobe that he is."

"It was yours." Willow told her softly.

Ms. Calendar smiled a little sadly before taking a breath and saying, "Let's do this, the sooner we get Angel back the better."

* * *

"I feel like a mummy," Jesse said thickly as he attempted to open his swollen eyes. 

There was snoring from the seat next to him and he could make out Xander fast asleep on the chair next to him. "Xan!" His voice was dry and scratchy. "Xander!"

"What?" Xander jerked and nearly fell off the chair. "Jesse!"

Jesse choked out a laugh. "Where am I?"

"Hyperion. One of the many spare rooms. Got to hand it to Angel, he's got a good HQ. way better than the library."

"Angel…" Jesse mumbled trying to force himself into a sitting position. "You can't trust him! He's…"

"I know, he went all Mr. Hyde on us again. I'm guessing you got the worst of it this time."

"This time?"

Xander swallowed. "Ms. Calendar didn't tell you how she died did she."

Jesse's battered face managed to rearrange itself into a deep scowl. "Bastard."

"You don't have to tell me that," Xander said with a wry grin. "But they're still trying to put him right. Get his soul back. Giles and Wes are interrogating that guy who brought you in and spazzing about some prophecy that involves lots and lots of living dead people."

"The Master," Jesse mumbled distantly, "did you guys kill him?"

Xander's face darkened. "Buffy did. But that was years ago." When she saw the look on his friend's face realization dawned on him. "I'm going to get Giles."

* * *

"We're all set." Willow asked softly looking from Tara to Ms. Calendar. 

"Are you sure you can do this?" Tara asked nervously. "I mean there's something wrong with the magic here. I couldn't do a thing."

"I've done this before." Willow's face was set. "Ms. Calendar, light the candles."

With one last look at the others, Willow took a deep breath and started the spell.

* * *

Giles had just walked into the hallway when Xander nearly plowed him over. "Do watch where you're going Xander." 

"Sorry G-man but we've got majorly bad problems," Xander panted, "Jesse just woke up. He needs to talk with you."

Slightly taken aback, Giles said, "I've been meaning to talk to him."

Xander grabbed his arm. "So talk. Trust me. Way more important than anything Mr. Tattoo Guy can tell you."

* * *

The spell was going smoothly. No sudden changes in Willow. No unexpected chanting in fluid Romanian. Just a normal spell. Power from the three women filled the room and an orange mist crept into the orb of Thessula. 

And that was the precise moment that things went very very wrong.

The orb of Thessula exploded, shards of glass flying in every direction. Willow cried out in shock as a piece of glass sliced her cheek. The room was filling quickly with a thick smoke and Ms. Calendar was shouting, "Is there a fire? Willow? Is something on fire?"

"I don't know," Willow moaned, "I can't… there's too much smoke. I can't see."

She reached out blindly, one hand catching on Ms. Calendar's sleeve and the other hand groping for Tara, but finding only air.

Sickly realization washed over her as she continued to reach blindly for someone who wasn't there.

Tara wasn't there.

And Willow started to scream.

* * *

Giles had trouble looking Jesse in the eyes. Over the years, Willow, Xander, Buffy and the rest of the scoobies had almost become surrogate children to him and it still pained him to see what the fighting had done to them. Faced with Jesse, he couldn't help but have the same feelings wash over him. If things had gone just a little differently, Jesse would have been part of that surrogate family instead of the memory that lingered unspoken in the air for years. 

"Mr. Giles," Jesse said as a greeting and Giles was taken aback at the formality. He hadn't been anything but just Giles in years. "Angel was there. At the place. Some girl brought him."

"This girl, I presumed she was involved."

"I thought she was running the show at first, but later I got the impression that she answered to someone. The things you hear when people assume you're unconscious."

"Do you know whom she answers to?"

"The never used names," Jesse said before taking a loud shaking breath. "Mr. Giles. Is there any chance vampires could." He swallowed. "Come back. Undustify of something."

"Of course there's a way. Look at Angel." The look on Jesse's face told him that the mention of Angel was not a smart move and he tried to recover. "Or Spike for that fact. Both died and were returned." But Jesse still looked faintly ill. "But that's not what you mean is it?"

"No." Genuine fear crept into the boy's voice. "I'm talking about the Master."

Giles's mind flashed to Lindsey talking about evil's champions as the last piece of the puzzle slid slowly into place.

And then he heard the scream.

He looked at Jesse who blinked and said, "Willow!"

* * *

When Giles arrived at the room, there was still a smoky haze in the room. Jenny Calendar stood up and pulled him to the side, whispering in his ear, "Something went wrong." 

Willow was sitting in the center of the room, sobbing into the arms of a bewildered Oz who was attempting to comfort her. A steak of blood ran down her tearstained cheek and the shattered orb of Thessula lie in the center of the room.

Jesse who was standing shakily behind him, clutch the doorframe for support let out a low whistle and Xander was surveying the room with open shock.

Willow rocked in Oz's arms, hysterical sobbing forming into a single coherent phrase: "Tara's gone."

The doorway behind them was starting to fill with people drawn by the commotion, but Jesse and Xander still hadn't moved from the doorway. Jesse was pointing at something on the other side of the room. "That's not natural."

On the opposite wall, blood red letter slowly appeared. '_We have the witch. We hold the power. You will wait for instructions._'

Xander recovered the quickest. "I'm going to take a stab at it and say things just got a hell of a lot worse."

* * *

_There are (for sure this time) two more chapters and an epilogue to go, but it might be a while before I can get them out. School just started and it's got me a bit swamped._

_Thanks to everyone who reviewed._


	13. Choices

_I apologize for the delay. This was incredibly hard to write. Somehow I managed to shove all the logical reasoning bits into the same chapter. It drove me mad._

_Story info and disclaimer on chapter 1

* * *

_

**_Thirteen- The choice_**

There was an uneasy silence in the group as they all packed into the barren room.

"Now that's just wack." Gunn said finally. "You say it painted itself there."

"Yeah," breathed Jesse. "That's so not natural."

"It's blood," Spike said suddenly. "It's fresh."

"It's Tara's," Willow confirmed, surprising everyone with her absolute certainty. "They took her."

"I believe those are the least of our worries," said Wesley, ignoring Willow's pointed glare. "We've translated a prophesy that seems to say that the world is in jeopardy."

Cordelia snorted. "The world's always in jeopardy. That's nothing new."

"Cordelia," Giles said sternly, "you shouldn't make light of this. Apocalypses are quite serious. People could be killed."

"Like me?" she retorted sullenly, effectively silencing him.

"We have reason to believe that all of the resurrected are involved." Wesley allowed diplomatically.

They had relocated to the lobby of the hotel while the older members of the group attempted to explain the situation. Willow was still nearly incoherent sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest. Oz had a comforting hand on her shoulder, listening to the commotion with his normal detached expression. Buffy stood with her arms crossed, staring coldly at Giles. Spike was just behind her. The rest of the groups seemed divided, the scoobies on one side and the Angel Investigations gang on the other. Kate and Lindsey stood somewhere in the middle, inevitably grouped together simply because they didn't belong anywhere else.

"What's this prophesy say?" Anya asked brashly. "It's never just 'the world's ending. Sucks for you.' There's always a loophole. There has to be. A thousand apocalypses and the world's still here."

Wesley took a deep breath a quoted from memory, "'In the time of imbalance when evil has chosen its champions, there shall come the fallen. Seven forgotten souls lost to darkness. Seven chances lost to evil. But where live endures death follows. And where evil is, good remains. Balance begets life. And balance upset is a world's ultimate end. The one true stop to these last days is balance be restored."

There was an awkward silence before Jesse, being least versed in prophesies blurted, "What the HELL are you talking about? Did we knock the earth out of orbit or something?"

"Nothing quite so dramatic," Giles tried to explain, "A few months ago, an exceedingly risky spell was performed that appears to have set off a chain of reactions eventually cumulating in the end of the world."

"The spell," Buffy protested, "that was the only way to beat the First and close the hell mouth."

"You can't defeated the First," Wesley snapped. "Don't you understand? The First Evil has to exist. There's a delicate balance that has to be maintained."

"And we broke it," Alonna said softly, "What happens now?"

"That's where things become vague," Giles said tiredly. "We know balance has to be restored, but we don't know how. Truth be told, we don't know very much at all."

"We do know something though," Lindsey put in suddenly. "The ritual they plan on using is call the Rite of Blood. I don't know exactly what it says, but if the name's anything to go by…"

"You," spat Willow suddenly, "you knew. You knew about Tara. You had to." She stood up suddenly and stretched out a hand.

Lindsey flew back and slammed into the wall, apparently unable to move. Willow stood up and rounded on him. "You seem to know everything else don't you." Her eyes had gone black. "You let her get taken."

The sheer power surrounding Willow seemed to have rendered the crowd motionless, all of them, except Oz. The werewolf stepped in front of her and said softly, "I'm sorry Willow."

And he slugged her hard. In shock, Willow hit the ground, on the other side of the room Lindsey sank to the ground, unaware of how close he had been to death. Oz offered Willow a hand up which she took as if in a daze. "Sorry," Oz mumbled again as he hauled her to her feet.

Lindsey moaned as he pushed himself up. "_This_ is what I get for helping you clowns."

"He didn't know Willow," Oz whispered into her ear. "It's not his fault."

"We can't start blaming everyone now!" Cordelia said sternly.

"Think," said Andrew, "while we fight amongst ourselves, they may very well be out there building the ultimate doomsday device that rivals anything in Bond faced or…"

"We get it Andrew!" Dawn snapped.

"I think we all want to get Tara back safely," Giles allowed, "but we have to be open to the very real possibility that this is all a trap. A trap that we cannot afford walking into. We should be…"

Buffy cut him off. "We get the picture. As far as I can see it, we have two choices. When they contact us, we can walk into the trap and try to get Tara back or we could wait and let them come for us." She swallowed. "So we put this to a vote. I say we go in fast and hard and take care of this as soon as possible." She surveyed the group intently waiting for them to say something.

Anya couldn't stand the silence and suddenly blurted, "This is dangerous and stupid and I don't want to die again."

"It's Tara, Buffy." Willow said almost immediately after. "We've got to get her back."

Buffy nodded and raised an eyebrow at Oz whose gaze flickered to Willow long enough for her to realize that his loyalty to Willow would outweigh his jealously. A second later he answered in the affirmative.

She turned her gaze to Xander, silently posing him the same question and Xander sighed. "I'm sorry Wills, but something's messing with us and walking into them doesn't seem like a good option."

"You know me Buffy," Spike said softly, "I'm not one to back down from a fight."

"Got to agree with bleach boy on this one," Gunn said flippantly. "Nothing beats good old fashioned ass-whopping."

Giles folded his arms across his chest and stared at the Scoobies. "We could be very well be playing straight into enemy hands. We can't do anything until we know more."

"We have to go," Dawn protested suddenly.

"You don't get a vote." Buffy snapped.

"Why not?" Her voice was irritated and she quickly scanned the crowd for leverage. "Jesse's younger than I am!"

Jesse turned red and mumble, "She's got a point."

"Fine," Buffy conceded, "but if you die, I'll kill you."

Dawn smiled brightly at a battle won and, her voice somber, she said, "We have to go. We owe that much to Tara."

Next to her, Andrew stammered out the same verdict.

Buffy's eyes drifted over to Kate who was shaking her head. "It's too risky. I don't like the feel of it."

Lindsey leaned unsteadily against the wall, looking defiantly at Willow. "We'd be walking right into a trap. And I'm not looking for a free ride into hell."

"I think we need Angel back before we do anything," Cordelia said, slightly amazed that she was agreeing with Lindsey. "The vision was for him anyway."

She elbowed Doyle who had seemed content to just wait and watch the debate and after a pause he said, "Someone's in trouble and we help them. That's how it works right?"

"I don't like it," Alonna Gunn said, drawing an uncomfortable amount of attention to herself. "We've got to pick our battles and I don't think this isn't one of them."

"She's right," Fred squeaked, "we don't even know what we're up against. Who we're fighting what we're trying to stop…"

Ms Calendar raised an eyebrow. "The longer we wait to take these guys out, the more people die. I say We do this now."

Wesley glanced around the room noting that he wasthe only one who hadn't said something yet. He sighed. "If we're to have any chance at coming out alive, we need surprise. We can't just walk in blind."

Buffy licked her lips and drew herself up. "Nine for, nine against." She scanned the crowd, looking for who she might have missed. She could have sworn there was one more person.

And then she realized who it was. Jesse was sitting mutely next to Xander, observing the scene with a critical view. Willow's healing spells had done wonders for him, but Buffy could tell that it wasn't complete. There were fading bruises covering most of his visible skin and he had the upright sit of someone with cracked ribs. But he was the only one who hadn't given an answer. She swallowed. "What do you want to do Jesse?"

The murmur that had built up in the room went dead silence.

Jesse gave her a cheeky grin but his voice held a slightly bitter edge. "I want to finish high school. Go to college. Live past twenty. That would be nice." He sighed heavily. "But you know that doesn't seem like it'll happen if the world ends."

"What about what happened to you?" Kate asked slowly.

"This? Me and Xander got beat up way worse than this in junior high. I don't see us being any better if we put this off."

"Then it's settled," Buffy said to the silent room.

"What now?" Alonna asked.

"We do what they said," Buffy replied hating that fact with every fiber of her being. "And we get Tara back."

* * *

The sense of foreboding in the hotel was nearly tangible. Alonna had dragged her brother over to the weapons rack going over ever possible choice of swords, crossbows and axes debating the uses of each one. Willow pulled Oz back to the room 217 where they sat and stared at the message on the wall. Jesse had fallen asleep on the couch. Cordelia and Doyle somehow managed to scrounge up a pack of cards and they were playing poker with a few other people. Kate and Lindsey sat next to each other in an uncomfortable silence. Giles and Jenny Calendar were talking in hushed voices in a secluded corner. 

Wesley had, as always resorted to research.

He had heard of the Rite of Blood of course. There were oblique references to it in many works but none that showed exactly what it entailed. He had been using Wolfram and Hart's special volumes, but he was starting to suspect that something was blocking his information. He could have sworn the Rite of Blood was in the book Dark Majiks.

He closed the Wolfram and Hart book and put it slowly on the corner of the table. He circled towards the back of the room and reached to the back of the closet. He'd made it a point not to take his own collection to Wolfram and Hart. Even after all he'd done, he still had doubts about that place.

He found his slightly battered copy of Dark Majiks and leafed through the yellowed pages. From downstairs he heard a distinctive murmuring of voices and the metallic clang of various bits of weaponry.

And then he found it.

The book was thankfully in English. He scanned the entry on the Rite of Blood , a chill going down his spine. The purpose of the ritual was to create a hellmouth, but by all rights, hellmouths could not be created or destroyed, only active or dormant. That was the way it had always been.

…until Sunnydale. That hellmouth had been outright closed. As far as he knew, that had never happened before. By all natural laws, it shouldn't be able to happen.

As legend had it, when the world began, it was filled with demons and the greatest of them wished to return to his native realm, so he had created the first hellmouth. But hell is not content to pour in through a single passage so it began to force its way in through other places as well. All in all, thirty seven hellmouths had been created that day. And that number had remained constant ever since.

So conceivably, creating a single passage to hell would open all of the existing ones.

And for the first time in eons, it had just been made possible.

_In the time of imbalance_

Wesley read what was required for the ritual. Saw that it needed to be performed on a thrice damned ground. "Wolfram and Hart," he whispered quietly, suddenly hating himself for being one of their employees.

But even that wasn't as disturbing as some of the blood required: blood of the innocent, blood of a Master, blood of magic, blood of a seer, blood of the chosen, blood of a partner, blood of sacrifice, blood of true evil.

And he knew that at lease two of their number fit their group. The chosen one and the seer.

Buffy and Oz.

The voices downstairs seemed to be getting softer, fading into the distance. He thought he heard somebody say, "Let's roll."

He closed the book in a haze and goes into the room where the spell had gone wrong.

Blood's on the walls but it's a different message than it was only an hour and a half ago.

It read "Midnight, Wolfram and Hart."

Wesley stared at the message on the wall for only a second longer than necessary, but even as he rushed down the stairs to follow the group out of the hotel and stop them from gambling with the well-being of the world, he had the sinking sensation that the crucial piece of information had, as always, come a second too late.

* * *

_We're fast coming to a close. Only one more chapter and an epilogue to go!_


	14. End of the World

_This is the last full chapter of The Fallen (and it's nearly twice as long as my normal chapters at that). Thanks to everyone who read or reviewed. I hope you've enjoyed this story as much as I have. And without further adieu, here is the last chapter of The Fallen. It's going to be a bumpy ride…_

_Story info and disclaimer on chapter 1._

_**Chapter Fourteen—End of the World**_

By the time Wesley had gotten into the lobby, they were already gone. He glanced at the nearly empty weapons rack, and against his better judgment, grabbed a slightly rusted sword before running out the door to catch up with the rest.

He found them two blocks later, a conspicuously visible group of people holding swords. Wesley wondered what would happen if anyone had seen them. In Sunnydale, sights like this had become almost commonplace, but here in LA, things were different. They would be lucky if no one called the cops.

He grabbed Buffy by the shoulder and, almost wildly, she turned around, instinctively raising a fist. Wesley glared at her stoically. "Buffy, we can't do this."

The group kept moving slowly, steadily, leaving Buffy and Wesley alone.

"What do you mean we can't do this? Wesley, one of my best friends is out there and they're going to kill her if we don't do something to stop it. Why are we even having this conversation."

"You didn't have all the facts," Wesley protested. "Buffy, the Rite of Blood requires bloodshed from seven distinctive sources. One of which is you."

"That's ridiculous," Buffy said, "you can't know that."

"Blood of the Chosen?" Wesley challenged, "Blood of a seer? I believe that Oz and yourself are key to this ritual. If they manage…"

"I can take care of myself Wesley. I'm a big girl." She sighed heavily. "And you know Oz. He'd follow Willow to the ends of the earth. Not to mention the fact that he never seems to get hurt."

"But…"

"Wes, if you're looking to be the one to tell Willow she's not allowed to try to get her girlfriend back, be my guest. But if you're not, please don't go shouting about this end of the world crap and freaking everyone out."

Effectively silence, Wesley nodded.

They turned a corner and suddenly Wolfram and Hart loomed in front of them.

"I hope we know what we're doing."

* * *

"They're coming," Tara informed Eve with a trace of a smirk. "I knew they would be."

Eve nodded almost imperceptibly and turned to the assembled group of demons, eyes automatically picking out Angelus, the Master and Glory. "Kill them."

* * *

Even though Doyle had made it a point to know all of the demon haunts in LA, he had never been inside of Wolfram and Hart before. The was something about the place that drove the more benign elements of demon kind absolutely crazy. And he knew it wasn't just him. He could see Oz's grip on his axe tense as they walked slowly through the doors, hear Cordelia's heart race as they entered..

The room seemed to be empty save for them but he couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched.

Someone cleared their throat and Doyle saw a tall man dressed in a very fine suit standing in front of them. "Welcome to Wolfram and Hart," he said in an oddly formal voice. "My name is Marcus Hamilton. I'm the new CEO of the firm."

"Wait a second," Fred (Doyle was fairly sure that was her name) sputtered, "We're in charge of this place. Angel's in charge."

"Angel," Hamilton informed the group, "is currently indisposed. I'd be happy to relay your presence to the proper person. May I inquire as to the reason of your visit."

"He's playing us," Cordelia hissed into Doyle's ear.

"This was a bad idea," he whispered back.

"Gee, you think?"

Behind him, he heard Buffy whispering into Jesse's ear. "You think you can slip away, see what you can find?"

Jesse's response was even softer, but Doyle's senses were on overdrive so he could pick it up: "I'm stealth guy."

"We just want Tara back." Willow said evenly.

Hamilton smirked. "I will inform the boss that you have arrived."

"Hold on," Alonna said, "I thought you said you were the boss."

Hamilton turned to head up the staircase. "You were sadly mistaken."

Doyle's coward's reflex suddenly set his eyes searching for the nearest exit. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jesse creeping off into the building alone.

Somewhere from the depths of the building, a clock struck midnight.

And all hell broke loose.

* * *

Gunn knew a distraction when he saw one. The flood of demons that had swarmed, almost out of nowhere wasn't fighting blindly. He could tell that they were pushing them further and further into the building, cutting off the exits.

But somehow it didn't seem to matter very much, when he was fighting, everything else seemed to drop from his mind. He had his favorite axe in his hands, his sister fighting just behind him, a bunch of baddies, ready for a slaughtering. It was the most fun he'd had in ages.

He couldn't help but be a little suspicious, because even though they were cutting through the demons like, he could see Doyle and Cordelia drifting farther away and Buffy was already fighting alone.

And he couldn't help but pick out a few familiar faces in the melee. People who worked with him at the firm. People he hired. People who were supposed to be the first wave of good guys at Wolfram and Hart.

People, he thought forlornly as he lopped the head off of one of his old co-workers, who he'd surely misjudged.

* * *

Jesse squeezed through a barely opened doorway, pulling an arm around his aching ribs. He seemed for the most part to go unnoticed. But then again the default state of a person in a melee was fighting anyone else was just visual noise.

He way up a hidden set of stairs, and kept moving upwards. After the two floors, he stopped hearing the sounds of all out war. The fifth and sixth floors were nearly silent.

But on the seventh, he heard lowered voices and he crept silently out into the empty hall.

* * *

Spike knew Dawn was somewhere behind him. Not to mention the strange watcher wanna-be. They were surrounded by demons on all sides.

_Dawn._

Why the hell did Buffy let the bit tag along anyway?

It only distantly occurred to him that Dawn was holding her own and it was Andrew he should be worried about.

But Spike couldn't think like that.

Dawn was behind him.

"_I'm counting on you… to protect her."_

"'_til the end of the world."_

He'd made a promise.

* * *

"Blood of the innocent is a rare thing," Eve said as she drew the circle in blood. "A vampire who was in the world of the supernatural, yet never took another's life. And the McNally boy just stumbled into our hands. No longer a vampire, but pure enough for the blood."

She emptied the last of the blood, completing the circle around Tara who sat cross-legged in the center. Eve swallowed. "It's ready."

Tara nodded once and leveled her gaze, her eyes black and glossy. "Hades, god of the underworld. I beseech you. Accept this sacrifice and heed my request. Seven bloods shall be shed and I bid you to bind their power. I give you blood of the innocent, blood of a Master, blood of Magic, blood of a seer, blood of the chosen, blood of a partner, blood of sacrifice, blood of true evil. All spilt on a thrice damned ground. Bind their power and allow the world to become what it was."

The circle of blood glowed intensely until in a flash that covered the entirety of the building, it vanished.

From the doorframe, Jesse cowered and listened.

_Blood of the innocent_

Realization crept over him, and he turned and ran.

Inside the room, Tara stood up and looked at Eve. "We have work to do."

* * *

"There's got to be something useful in here!" Wesley hissed frantically to Fred.

"You're the one who showed up without a weapon!"

They were huddled behind one of the lab tables in the corner as the swarm of demons rampaged the lab.

"Look on the bright side," Fred tried to sound upbeat. "There's so many of them they'll probably take each other out right?" Her eyes widened as she looked to Wesley for reassurance.

"Right," Wesley affirmed, the thought of staying out of the melee prominent in his mind. Running at that many demons was suicide, plain and simple. And as long as Fred was safe, there was no need for fighting. He just prayed Buffy knew what she was doing.

They sat in silence as they heard the tinkling of breaking glass and occasional thudding as every part of Fred's laboratory was demolished.

And then it stopped.

* * *

Buffy swung her sword only to hit air. Confused, she looked around.

She was alone in the small room. Only seconds earlier there had been at least a hundred demons but they had all vanished.

Unconsciously, she tensed, pulling her sword up into attack position.

From somewhere behind her, she heard a familiar voice. "I've been waiting for this for a long time."

Slowly, Buffy turned around and meet her foe in the eyes. "Glory."

A fist collided with the side of her head and she slammed into the opposite wall. "In the flesh."

* * *

"This way," Lindsey said urgently as he ushered Kate into the open elevator.

"Where are we going?"

"Trust me," Lindsey said as he punched in a series of numbers. "I hope they didn't change the sequence." He hit the last number.

"What sequence?" Kate asked frantically.

A large white button appeared overtop the numbers for floor numbers. Lindsey smiled crookedly at her. "And now, we get some answers."

He pressed the button.

* * *

"We're not dead," Doyle said in amazement. "Why are we not dead?"

The demons had disappeared leaving him and Cordelia staring at each other in surprise.

"I don't like this." Cordelia said, bending over, "No icky demon guts or anything."

Doyle nodded vaguely feeling slightly punch drunk. "We got to be getting out of here," he said suddenly, coward's reflex surging to the forefront. "This smells like a…"

"…Trap," someone supplied from behind them and Doyle and Cordelia turned in unison.

Angelus smiled at them. "Good guess."

* * *

A solid blow to the nose had stars dancing in front of Buffy's eyes. A slow steady stream of blood was slowly dripping down her face. She could taste it in her mouth.

She had stayed on the ground for a few seconds longer than necessary. It may hurt her pride to do it, but it would also get Glory cocky.

… in theory.

"C'mon Slayer," Glory taunted as she delivered a vicious kick to her side, "had enough already?"

Buffy moaned a little as she felt her ribs crack.

This plan sucked.

Her sword was lying only an arm's length away and she reached for it only to have it kicked away. Buffy grimaced and pushed herself to a standing position. Glory smirked. "Scared Slayer?"

Buffy put her hand to her nose. It seemed to have stopped. Most of the blood seemed to be in a small puddle where she had fallen.

_Blood of the Chosen_

"Scared?" Buffy scoffed, "You wish."

* * *

Jesse stumbled out of the stairwell, expecting to run straight into all out war. But the lobby was surprisingly quiet and empty. He stopped and looked at his surroundings.

Nothing moved, not a sound.

"Willow!" He screamed. "Willow! It's a trap! Get out of here! It's a trap!"

Something in the shadows moved behind him and he went still.

"Willow?"

Someone grabbed him by the throat, lifting him slowly and steadily off the ground as his feet kicked wildly. His axe clattered to the ground as his hands flew to his throat to try to regain his airway. _Just a flick of their wrist,_ he realize with a cold chill, _a flick of their wrist and I'm gone._

The Master hissed in his ear. "I'll be back for you."

And a second later, Jesse crashed into the wall.

* * *

When Angelus's fist swung in the direction of Doyle's face, he didn't move. Didn't flinch. He just stood there with a oddly determined look on his face.

And a split second before the punch landed, he let himself change.

Angelus's fist collided with about a dozen short blue spikes and he recoiled, howling. Doyle struggled to keep the guilt off his face as he said, "Lesson in using your advantages." His face slid back to a human's. "You taught me that."

From behind him, Cordelia smashed him with the hilt of her sword and he collapsed to the ground.

Angelus looked up at her. "You won't kill me."

"That's where your wrong," Cordelia said drawing her sword up. "You see, I promised Angel I'd kill you."

And as Doyle's eyes widened slightly, she brought the sword down.

* * *

Willow pushed open the door with a frantic light in her eyes. "Tara! Tara! Are you here?"

She thought she heard someone calling her name in the distance, but she ignored it. Tara was here. She could feel it. "Tara!"

"Tara!" Willow called again and this time, she heard a muffled response.

Tara was sitting huddled in a corner, hands bound behind her back, a gag stuffed in her mouth with wide frightened eyes.

"Tara!" she cried and rushed to her side, fumbling with her bonds

Oz entered the room behind her, looking around for any sign of a trap before, resigning himself to watching.

Her bonds loose, Willow brought down Tara's gag, almost sobbing with relief. She hugged her tightly, not even noticing that Tara wasn't returning the embrace.

Tara smirked over Willow's shoulder and Oz immediately knew something was wrong.

He tried to warn her, tried to say her name, but she wasn't listening.

She was sobbing into her dead girlfriend's shoulder. "I though I lost you, I thought you were…" her body seemed to hitch in mid-sentence and Willow raised her head slowly to look questioningly into Tara's eyes, "What was that for?" Her breath hitched again and red stuff filled her mouth. "What did you do?"

Tara stepped away slowly and Oz could see a dagger protruding from Willow's chest, the blue shirt had already growing a dark stain.

Blood dripped slowly from down and pooled in a small circle at her feet. She swayed violently and turned to face him as she collapsed, croaking, "Oz!"

_Blood of Magic_

He caught her before she hit the ground. Looking at her bloodied stomach with helpless confusion. Grimacing, he pulled the knife out, wincing as he touched it.

Silver.

He ignored the twinge of pain and tossed it behind him, putting pressure on the wound with both hands.

"Tara," Willow muttered again, "why?"

Oz rounded on Tara in a rare display of suppressed outrage. "What did you do Tara?" His hands shook as he felt the wolf rising to the forefront.

Tare stretched her hand out and the dagger soared back into it, the blade now sparklingly clean. "Don't you get it?" she asked with a disarming smile. "I'm not Tara."

* * *

The ground of the hotel shook as the first stage of the spell began to take hold, Angelus took advantage of the distraction and rolled out of the way, disarming Cordelia in one smooth motion, and grabbing her by the throat. "Not that I'm unimpressed, but you do know that I could snap your neck at any time. You're not fast enough."

Doyle stood across from them, paralyzed. He held his sword limply in his hand. "Let her go."

"Or what?" Angelus challenged, "you can't do anything."

"Let her go." His face kept changing in his panic, demon, human, demon, human. He couldn't control it.

"I don't think so." Angelus cackled. "I think killing her would be doing her a favor. You never were good with the relationships."

Doyle's eye twitched.

"You kiss her, and then you die. Not exactly the best way to start." He leaned closer to Cordelia. "I bet I got farther with her than you ever did. What do you think Doyle? Does she scream?"

"You bastard." Doyle hissed.

Cordelia managed to free an arm and sunk an elbow deep into Angelus's chest, scrambling to the other side of the room.

Angelus seethed. "You stupid bitch!"

He grabbed Cordelia's sword and started towards them and they slowly backed into the wall.

"Way to go out, huh?" Doyle said bitterly, "No blaze of glory, no nothing…"

The door opened behind Angelus and for a second, both Cordelia and Doyle dared to pray for rescue.

Angelus didn't turn around. He threw his sword backwards, impaling the intruder in the chest, pinning him to the wall.

"Can't you see I'm busy."

He turned and pulled the sword out of the Master's chest.

"Idiot child," spat the Master, "have you forgotten the r…"

Angelus swung the sword and beheaded the Master as a stunned Cordelia and Doyle watched.

A precious few drops of cold dead blood dripped off the sword and to the ground.

_Blood of the Master_

Angelus turned back to Cordelia and Doyle, eyes alight with manic glee. "Who wants to go first?"

* * *

A hard knock to the face and Buffy's nose was bleeding again. She had regained possession of her sword only to have a kick to the wrist send in sailing back to the ground.

She needed the troll hammer. But it was probably back in England being studied by all the watcher types.

They always seemed to take all her good weapons. She still didn't see why should couldn't keep that rocket launcher…

She blocked a punch and delivered one of her own, but she'd obviously miscalculated because a second later she was flat on her back, breath temporarily knocked out of her.

"You know slayer," Glory said slowly, picking up Buffy's fallen sword. "I don't see how you ever beat me. You're nothing. You think slayer means something, but their common as dirt."

But all the other Slayers were gone. It was just her left. Even Faith had woken up minus super powers. Common as dirt? She could very well be the last ever chosen one.

The sword sailed towards her, slicing through the air with terrifying speed. Out of instinct more than anything else, she rolled right and tried to push herself up, only to find that she didn't have the strength.

Glory yanked the sword out from the floor and advance on Buffy, raising the blade.

Every slayer has a death wish.

Buffy closed her eyes.

* * *

The elevator opened and Kate was blinded by white. She felt like she was in a hospital. She'd always hated hospitals. She gave Lindsey a wary glance. "What's supposed to be here?"

"Answers." Lindsey was looking around the room intently and Kate had the awkward sensation that he saw something she didn't.

Kate around, only to see an empty white room. "What the hell is this place?"

"Welcome to the center of Wolfram and Hart," Lindsey said, opening his arms wide.

"I don't like it."

"Yeah." Lindsey seemed to deflate a little. "Me neither."

Kate shook her head and caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye. "What's that."

Lindsey followed her gaze. "No idea."

It was a glass jar, sitting discretely in a corner of the white room, filled with a sort of orange mist. Kate picked it up, grinning faintly. "It's kind of pretty." She shrugged and started to pry the lid off the jar.

Lindsey grabbed at it. "What are you doing? That could be dangerous!"

Kate rolled her eyes and pulled the lid off.

The light inside the jar evaporated.

And a voice came from somewhere behind them. "You really shouldn't have done that."

* * *

"If you're not Tara, then who are you?" Oz asked, well aware that he was stalling for time.

Tara smiled maliciously. "What I am makes the beast in you seem like nothing."

"Tara," Willow mumbled thickly, "why aren't you Tara?"

"Tara was a stupid misguided girl. Thought it was best to block me from using her form when I wanted to talk to you." She bent down and lifted Willow's chin. "She thought she could protect you. But I was just words then." She let her chin drop back. "Now I'm flesh. It all evens out in then end. Everything you stupid humans do has consequences."

"What are you?" Oz asked.

"The first," Willow muttered. "You're the first."

Oz made tried to go to Willow's side, but Tara threw a knife at him. It sliced threw Oz's left shoulder. He winced in pain as small beads of blood dripped from the cut, down his arm and to the floor.

_Blood of a seer._

Oz turned and grabbed the knife and attacked, the silver burning his hand.

* * *

"I think I should kill the girl," Angelus said, "It's the classic way to go." He examine the deadly blade. "And I always was one for the classics."

He smiled and brought the blade up and Cordelia screamed.

And a light went through Angelus's eyes and he collapsed. Doyle, sensing the opportunity grabbed his own sword from the ground and prepared to make the killing blow.

Angel looked up at him. "Where am I?"

Doyle faltered. "Angel man? Is that you?"

"Who else would it be?" He said, confused.

Doyle exchanged and look with Cordelia and offered his friend and hand up.

Cordelia breathed a sigh of relief. "Someone up there likes us."

* * *

"Eve." Lindsey's voice was quiet.

Eve stood perfectly still, features sharp against the glow of the white room. "You shouldn't have done that," she repeated, "the senior partners are gunning for you as it is."

"You know what Eve," Lindsey said slowly, "I don't think the senior partners were ever after me. It was all you. You were the one who convinced me to move back here! You were the one who insisted on me getting these damn tattoos!"

"We're all tools Lindsey. They knew exactly what you were going to do and they let you do it." Eve smiled widely. "We're all part of the plan."

Kate, fidgeted uneasily, hand making its way to her gun… she still kept a gun, even after everything she'd seen it fail to do…

Lindsey's voice was calmer when he spoke again. "Eve, whatever they're making you do, you don't have to do it. You can get out. You don't have to be their pawn."

Eve shook her head. "You don't get it, do you Lindsey? You never were a big picture kind of guy. I'm the liaison to the senior partners. Their blood flows through my veins. I was born for this. And if they say you die, then you die." A look of genuine regret crossed over her delicate features. "I really did like you Lindsey…" She moved forward to attack.

And suddenly, a shot ran out and Eve crumpled, blood splattering on the white behind her.

_Blood of a Partner_.

Lindsey turned around in a daze to see Kate holding a smoking gun.

Kate looked equally shocked and she had to fight to keep her composure. "We're done here. Let's go."

A small smile spanned Eve's cooling lips.

* * *

"Jesse!" Xander was at his fallen friend's side in a second. "Jesse are you alright?"

He cracked open an eye.

"Giles! I need some help here!"

Anya hovered somewhere behind him.

Giles, knelt down beside him. "Jesse? Jesse? Can you hear me?"

"Yes!" Anya said wildly, "How many fingers?"

"Willow," Jesse croaked, trying to push himself up.

"That's not how many fingers."

"Willow can handle herself Jess," Xander assured him.

"No!" It was only Giles's hands that held him down. "You don't get it! Tara's not… it's not Tara! She planned this whole thing."

Giles paled. "Where is Willow, Xander?"

"I don't know," Xander said slowly, "we got separated. I think they pushed her upstairs."

"Stay here." Giles stood up. "I've got to warn her."

"Giles," Jesse muttered, eyes going in and out of focus.

Ms. Calendar sat in front of Jesse. "Don't worry about that now. Just stay conscious here."

"He dropped something." Jesse said distantly, pointing to a scrap of paper on the floor.

Ms. Calendar picked it up and shoved it into his pocket. "You can give that to him when he gets back. I think your leg's broken and you might have a concussion. Stay awake Jesse, just focus on staying awake."

* * *

Oz had the dagger pressed to Tara's throat, the silver burning at his hands. The cut on his arm was bleeding freely, an infuriatingly steady stream. He felt light headed, the effort from holding the silver was almost enough to make him pass out. The wolf hovered just below the surface.

It had been almost too easy.

He had her in a choke hold. One hand holding her down, the other holding the blade pressed to throat. Another ounce of pressure and it would slice skin.

He had always dreamt about killing her. Ever since he realized what she was to Willow, he'd wanted it.

Tara smiled serenely up at him, not struggling, not flinching. "You know, Daniel," Oz flinched at his given name. "You've already lost." Her laughter burned his ears. The blade burned his hands. "You've lost your girl, you've lost your hope, you've lost the fight, you've lost the war."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Willow slump down, unconscious. He unconsciously pressed the blade harder, breaking the skin. Sending the blood out in tiny thin rivers.

He had always dreamt of killing her.

"Kill me," she dared. "Go ahead. I know you want it."

The wolf in him howled.

"It doesn't matter," An ounce more pressure would sever her vocal cords. "You've already lost."

And Tara's blood, the first evil's blood, dripped slowly down her neck and onto the floor.

_Blood of true evil_

Tara smiled widely. "See you in hell."

And before Oz could add that last ounce of pressure, Tara's body seemed to swallow itself and shrank into oblivion.

* * *

The killing blow never came. After almost a minute, Buffy opened her eyes again wondering what had happened.

It wasn't Glory standing above her.

It was Ben.

Sweet gentle Ben who'd tried to ask her out. Who'd comforted Dawn at her worst…

Who was sharing a body with her most dangerous enemy.

Ben looked around, confused. "Where am I?"

Buffy slowly pushed herself up.

Ben looked in surprise at the sword in his hand. "What was she doing?"

"Fighting me." Buffy took a step towards him, reaching for the sword, half afraid that he would turn back into Glory at any second.

_You should kill him,_ her brain was suddenly screaming, _kill him and all of this is over._

But in her heart, she knew she couldn't kill him.

He saved Giles's life once.

And he looked so pathetic, standing there in Glory's clothes. A short dark skirt and a v-neck blouse that showed chest hair instead of cleavage.

He looked up at her as if he had only just realized that she was there and unconsciously echoing the words of Lloyd Reylord he said, "Sacrifice starts it."

Buffy's brow wrinkle in confusion as Ben's earnest brown eyes bored into her own. "You remember."

She remembered. Oh, did she remember, Dawn standing at the top of the tower, she remembered the blood that dripped down her chest. She remembered…

As she daydreamed, Ben had crossed the room and wedged the hilt of his sword into the uneven flooring where Glory had slammed the same sword only seconds before. He smiled distantly. "Sacrifice starts it, and sacrifice will end it." He seemed to be looking for approval, but Buffy didn't know what he was talking about.

And then it occurred to her. Her final jump to save the world, to save Dawn. _When the blood stops flowing. _She met Ben's eyes.

He swallowed. "I done being someone else's tool."

Buffy realized what he was doing only a split second before he did it. She started making her way across the room, intending to stop him.

But whether it was the fatigue from the fight, or Ben's sheer determination, she got there a second too late.

Ben smiled broadly, spread his arms, and fell forward onto the blade.

Buffy reached him only a second later and bent down next to him, searching for a pulse. He turned his head a fraction so he could see her. "Don't worry," he said, "this time, I did it right."

His eyes closed and his breath faltered and stopped.

_Blood of Sacrifice_

His blood trickled slowly to the floor.

Sacrifice starts it.

The room exploded into light.

* * *

Giles ran into Willow and Oz making their way back down to the lobby, both much worse for the wear.

"Tara?" he dared ask.

Oz shook his head faintly grimacing as he strained to hold Willow's weight.

"What happened up there?"

"It doesn't matter," Oz grunted, "Let's just get out of here."

* * *

"What did I do?" Angel asked as Doyle hauled him to his feet.

Doyle opened his mouth to explain, but Cordelia beat him to it. "We'll talk about this later. The last thing we need is you going all broody on us."

"That bad huh?"

"Cordelia was going to behead you."

The ground shook.

They looked at each other. "We need to get out of here," Cordelia said loudly as a piece of the ceiling fell four feet in front of them. "Like, now."

* * *

The lobby of the firm was starting to fill up with people in various states of panic.

Fred pounded at the doors. "We're locked in!" She looked helplessly at Wesley. "They won't budge."

"I think I did something wrong." Buffy said as she watched the glow shine from the upper stories.

"I should think so," Wesley snapped as he followed her gaze, "it appears that the ritual has been fulfilled."

"The end of the world?" Gunn asked in disbelief. "Can't be. We beat the bad guys."

"The doors won't open," Fred repeated in a panic, "we're stuck in here." She stared fearfully at the light. "It'll be ok, right Wesley?"

It wasn't going to be ok. And they all knew it. Nothing good consumed entire buildings.Nothing good came from dark magic. Nothing good involved blood sacrifices.The entire group was trapped in the lobby, in various states of shock as the energies tore the building apart, prepared to tear the world apart.

"This is our fault." Giles said mournfully. "This is it. The last…"

"Don't say it!" Xander snapped. "We can fix it. We can always fix it."

"We've just got to go over it." Ms. Calendar said in a falsely calm tone as she tried to examine Jesse's leg. "What did the prophecy say?"

There was a crash as some of the roof caved in and the winds started to pick up. The passage to hell gained in size, in strength.

Kate and Lindsey stumbled in to the room. "What the hell did you do!" Lindsey screamed in their general direction. "You've started it! It's…"

"I can see them," Willow muttered from Oz's arm, almost giddy with blood loss, "demons and witches and Taras and magicks and death…"

Doyle slowly wrapped his arms around Cordelia's waist. "We'll be OK princess." Angel stood beside them.

"The fallen," Wesley muttered, trying to recall the prophecy's exact wording, "evil's champions, balance, the end of everything."

Spike came up behind Buffy, Dawn at his tail. "I kept her safe," he muttered. "Nothing's going to get to her..."

"It doesn't matter now," Buffy said brokenly, "It's all over, we finally lost."

"The fallen, evil's champions, life, death…"

"Balance," Alonna said suddenly and her brother looked at her strangely. "That's what this is all about isn't it? Balance."

And one by one they realized it. Knew what had to happen.

"No," said Xander, absentmindedly reaching for Anya's hand. "There's got to be…"

"Even if there was," snapped Ms. Calendar, "there's no time." She helped Jesse to his feet. "We weren't supposed to be here in the first place."

And one by one, the group known only as the fallen pulled their battered bodies up. Jesse leaned against Mrs. Calendar for support, Alonna nodded stoically to her brother. Doyle gave Angel a knowing look. Cordelia shrugged at Oz. "Hail the new vision guy." Spike whispered something in Buffy's ear. Anya squeezed Xander's hand. Goodbyes had been said years ago. There was nothing left to do. And together, they drew themselves up tall and walked into the light, into eternity.

There was a balance to be restored.

The rest of the group watched them as they disappeared. Watched them walk into the ball of destruction that could have meant the end of mankind.

But even after they had disappeared, the light remained, seemed to grow bigger even. There was the roar of various hell beasts as they forced their way through the barriers that separated the earth from the various hell dimensions.

"We were too late." Kate shouted over the deafening roar.

Fred frantically pulled at the doors, but they were still sealed tight.

Angel screamed for Cordelia, for Doyle.

Buffy swore she hear the first evil laughing at her.

And in the midst of it all, Oz collapsed to the floor convulsing. Willow, loosing balance, toppled down on top of him, groaning as her wound tore open again. "What's happening!"

"He's having a vision," Angel leaned down beside him. "Oz! Can you hear me?"

He opened an eye and smiled through his pain. "It's going to be alright." He sat up with a considerable effort and wrapped his arms around Willow. "It's all going to turn out alright."

The building collapsed.

The light swallowed them whole.

The world ended.

And everything changed.

* * *

_Yeah, I know. How do you end a story like this? You get no answers from me now. The epilogue will be posted early Saturday._


	15. Epilogue—Death Scenes

_This is the very last part. No hooks, no epilogues, no plans for a sequal. And please, if you made it through the whole story, drop me a review to let me know what you thought. Once again, thanks for reading. _

_**Epilogue—Death Scenes**_

The light was blinding, but they remained together, a bond formed that could not be broken.

Seven people gone before their time.

Seven deaths that shouldn't have happened.

Seven ways the future could have been different.

The portal's energy tore at them one by one and Cordelia lost her grip on Doyle's hand, Jesse's grip on Ms. Calendar's arm slipped out. Alonna screamed for her brother. Anya screamed for Xander. Spike faded slowly into the darkness.

And alone they spiraled back to their rightful places in time.

* * *

…_light exploded from Spike's chest and Buffy's hand burst into flames as she linked it with his. "I love you," she said, tears glistening in her eyes._

_The hellmouth was collapsing all around them and he spoke in a sort of daze, repeating the lines from memory. "No you don't." Her hand slipped free of his. "but thanks for saying it." He winced, remembering just how it felt to die. "Go!"_

_Buffy ran up the stairs and he turned his gaze to the crumbling building._

_Softly, he muttered, "There goes my second chance…"

* * *

_

…_Anya's sword impaled the bringer in front of her and a second later she felt something slice into her back. Andrew's face barely has time to register the shock before she…

* * *

_

…_white light surrounded Cordelia and she suddenly knew where she was. Looking down, she saw her feet were a good fifteen feet off of the highway and she was rising slowly but surely. _

"_STOP!" she yelled violently at Skip, "you can't do this! I'm Cordelia Chase!" _

_She kept rising. "Angel! Doyle! Help!"_

_The light grew more intense by the moment until…

* * *

_

…_the vampire had Alonna firmly grasped in his hands. He took advantage of her momentary pause of confusion and his teeth tore into her neck._

_The last thing Alonna felt was cold blood being forced into her mouth…

* * *

_

…_Angel spiraled off the catwalk falling into an ungainly heap on the floor below. The beacon's light burned just to look at. It took him a moment to remember where he was, to remember what was happening, but it came back to him within seconds._

_He was going to have to do this again. He had to play the hero._

_Turning, he kissed Cordelia remembering, only a second later, that he'd given her the visions, but by then it was to late to stop._

_There were tears in her eyes as he pulled away. "To bad we'll never know." He said shakily as he let himself slip into his demon face. "If this is a face you could learn to love."_

_And he jumped…

* * *

_

…_Jenny Calendar stumbled in mid-step as she snapped back into her place in time. Angelus was behind her. She looked at the hall in front of her, trying to remember which way she had turned last time._

_She turned and then there was Angelus. She looked up at him in blind terror and he placed his hands on her face and casually twisted_

_SNA…

* * *

_

"… but I have family here."

Jesse blinked, taking in the change of scenery. All around him, the Bronze was in full swing… and in front of him was a girl, blond hair, a catholic schoolgirl outfit, smiling at him.

He froze, suddenly remembering.

Darla. She'd led him straight to the Master.

_Vampire._

He ran a nervous hand through his hair and scrambled to keep his cool. "Well I hope you have a very nice time," he sputtered, "with your family. I'm going to go get a drink. Do you want a drink?"

She smiled seductively, staring at his neck. "Absolutely." Abruptly, her gaze jerked up to his face. "How about you get that drink and I'll meet you by the door."

Jesse tugged nervously at his collar. "Sure, alright. I'll go get that drink."

He walked away as quickly as possible, stunned that he could actually support his own weight, stunned that he wasn't dead.

When Darla was out of sight, he stopped and leaned back against a wall to think. Was it all happening again? He was back in Sunnydale, that much was clear and Sunnydale still existed, his fevered mind tried to wrap his mind around the concept.

He was going to die tonight.

"Are you okay man." A friendly voice asked, its owner placing a hand on his back.

Jesse flinched, and turned to look at him. "Sure, I'm fine," he stammered to the disbelieving stranger. "I just had a rough day."

The man shrugged and walked off.

Jesse shoved his hands in his pockets, trying to look casual as he made his way across the Bronze.

There was something in his left pocket, something that hadn't been there before.

Stopping in his tracks, he took it out slowly.

He unfolded it and smoothed it out against his jeans.

It was the paper that Giles had dropped only seconds before it had all ended. On it, there were seven names and dates written in Giles's elegant hand.

He read the list with shaking hands.

Jesse McNally. Jenny Calendar. Allen Francis Doyle. Alonna Gunn. Tara McClay. Cordelia Chase. Anya Jenkins.

Names and dates.

He remembered something that Willow had told him once: all good stories end at the beginning.

A slow grin spread across his features. "'And the fallen shall rise.'"


End file.
